Pokemon Alliance Chronicles Stage 1: Childhoods
by Autumnchronicles
Summary: Minus is an experiment Lucario who shouldn't have fallen in love. Ven is a special Eevee with a destiny. Kikyo is a shiny Shuppet who was outcast. This is the start of their tragic, heartfelt, unlikely alliance that will save all Pokemon.
1. Minus Awakens

_A/N: So this is basically the first chapter in my series. Minus awakens, thus starting an excruciatingly long chain of events. Who is Minus? Who's Edwin Riles? What's up with Professor Heimen? Can he be trusted? What's more, can Minus be trusted? Okay, enough with the stupid question entry. Just read the chapter to find out._

**Stage one**

**Chapter one: Minus Awakens**

Faint sounds echo in his head. He can't make out the words. Although his eyes are closed, he can somewhat sense who the voices belong to. He can see their shapes moving, one rounded and warm, the other outlined in jags of cold-heartedness. He realizes something is between the forms and him. He can't move. Something has a very firm grip on him…something…

The Experiment blacks out when another injection is shot into his bloodstream.

"Do you think he's stable yet?" Edwin Riles asks as he peers through the thick glass Experiment Minus sleeps behind.

"No, certainly not," Professor Heimen replies quickly, "Although the armor keeps him from waking up prematurely, it doesn't make him stable. It simply allows us from repeating our mistakes from last time."

"Mind you, I was simply asking," Edwin sighs. He wonders if The Experiment can think yet. He also wonders if it is aware of the thick coat of armor imprisoning his body.

"Professor?" the scientist monitoring The Experiment suddenly cries in an anxious voice, "We just gave him another injection!"

"And you announce this to me why?" Professor Heimen growls.

"It isn't working."

Edwin and the professor rush to the back of the room where Experiment Minus's stats are being displayed. On the screen it shows that his heart rate is increasing, along with his brain activity. This isn't what captures their attention. A big red screen pops up. The professor skims over the alert and his eyes widen.

"Oh no..." the professor covers his face with his hands, "You didn't inject the adrenaline control serum, you injected the ADRENALINE!!"

Professor Heimen swipes at a table covered in test tubes and lab research. Its contents are thrown to the floor with a raucous crash.

"Giving him adrenaline triggers the awakening sequence!"

Everyone freezes and the safety alarm begins blaring. Everybody's forms become outlined in tinges of red from the light being thrown around the room haphazardly. The Experiment's capsule lights up. All other lights in the room, excluding the siren, are dimmed.

The liquid surrounding Experiment Minus swiftly drains from the glass container. Droplets slosh and run down the sides until nothing but bare glass, the Experiment, and the wires holding together the armor are left. The glass slowly lifts. The professor tackles the computer and vigorously begins pounding codes and commands into the system. Experiment Minus's helmet shoots into the back of the armor. Everybody holds their breath as his face is revealed.

His consciousness is returned to him with awareness of the sudden movements outside. Something rushes down his body and leaves him feeling slightly numb. Noises that were once muffled are clearer to him now, though his grogginess takes away most of the sense in the noise. More movement. He sees shapes scrambling around frantically now. They suddenly all stop moving.

Something is whisked away from his face, exposing him to a blast of cold air. He squeezes his eyes tighter. A few brief movements above him, and everything is suddenly still. And silent.

His long ears and muzzle shiver violently. A ripple of motion catches his attention and he jerks his head in the direction. He still can't move his body. The form moving is the jagged one from earlier. It stops in front of him.

"Are you awake?" Professor Heimen inquires calmly. Experiment Minus's ears perk up at his voice cool voice.

"Can you understand me?" the professor continues slowly.

Gradually, Experiment Minus begins to nod. To both the Experiment's and the scientist's surprise, he also speaks.

"Yes." Experiment Minus seems startled by the sound of his own voice.

"Incredible," Professor Heimen speculates, "Edwin, begin taking note immediately!"

"Of course, Professor."

As the two carried on in a more lengthy conversation, the Experiment took in the information with some puzzlement. He is vaguely aware that they are speaking of him, though he can't exactly understand why. He suddenly sneezes. The two men jump at the pitiful noise and swiftly do a scan of the room. They realize it was the Experiment.

Professor Heimen speaks up, "You must be freezing."

The Experiment can only sniff in reply. His blue muzzle quivers.

"Type the release code into the system."

"But…Professor?"

Heimen turns around to stare at the boneheaded scientist who caused the experiment to blow three months early. His hand whips out in indication of The Experiment behind him.

"Does this look like another Mewtwo to you?"

The scientist stumbles backward shaking his head nervously, "N-n-no, Professor."

A single nod from Professor Heimen is all it takes for the scientist to follow orders from there. The Professor allows him to finish keying a long paragraph of commands, and then moves closer to him until his tall form is loaming over the poor scientist's small one. The Professor mouths the words 'You're fired', and silently returns to The Experiment's side. The stiff armor whirs and changes until The Experiment is fully visible. Its metallic luster is temporarily dimmed in his shadow, until the last wire is removed from his damp fur. The Experiment stands tall on his own. His dog-like form is muscular and powerful looking, despite his being premature. Although certain tufts of his coarse fur are darker or wrong in color in places, he can most definitely be classified as a Lucario. One of his hind paws suddenly buckles and he crumples to the ground.

"The Experiment!" Professor Heimen exclaims in surprise.

Edwin rushes to the tile where he is laying. The gentle man runs his leathery hands down The Experiment's shivering pelt and looks up in concern.

"He needs a blanket, or something. He could get sick," Edwin states.

A pair of assistants dash out of the room on a quest to find a suitable blanket, no doubt. Edwin props Experiment Minus up against his body and rubs him down thoroughly. During the massage, he notices The Experiments eyes are firmly shut.

"Can't you see?"

"What?" The Experiment tenses up.

"Relax," Edwin says calmly, "I was just asking you a question."

"Well…I…I can see shapes moving…"

"Your eyes are closed though."

"I can still see something…"

"Can you see me?"

The Experiment concentrates for a moment before replying, "I think so…your shape is very…comforting."

Edwin chuckles to himself.

"You might try opening your eyes. You'll see better, I'm sure."

The Pokemon's black eyelids slowly flutter open. He sits up in surprise as the world around him wavers and becomes visible. The Experiment blinks his scarlet eyes as they dart around the room.

"This…" The Experiment starts to question something, but for some reason changes his mind. Instead he simply asks, "Who are you?"

"My name is Edwin Riles. You may simply call me Edwin."

"Your name?" He cocks his head and ponders for a moment. "Do I have a name?"

"You see, you are The Minus Experiment One." The Professor quickly cuts into the conversation. He taps his fingers on a flat screen computer for emphasis. All it shows is a black background and a cleverly designed dash in the center with the words 'The Minus Series' typed underneath.

"You are the first in the Minus Series. The first of the Negative Pokemon though you have no final identity," a bold assistant pipes up.

The Professor seems to growl his next remark, "In smaller words, you have no name."

"I see," The Experiment can't help but cock his head once more. Shivers run down his spine as the two assistants who bustled off earlier reenter the room with a bulky comforter and a hair dryer. Only when Edwin bundles him up in the comforter does he realize how frozen he is. Edwin doesn't hesitate for a moment in plugging in the hairdryer. Sighing contentedly, The Experiment rolls over and lets the warm currents of air warm his body.

"You should have a name you know," Edwin says quietly to The Experiment.

"I suppose," he pretends to study the steely spikes growing from the back of his paws and the middle of his dark gold chest.

"I think I've thought of one. Want to hear it?"

The Experiment closes his eyes and relaxes.

"Sure."

"How does the name Minus sound to you?"

"Whatever you say…" The Experiment whispers as he drifts off. He dreams of sunshine and bright green fields. He has never before seen either. Minus will forget the dream before dawn.

_A/N: You likey? Well, so far this is all I've got. Keep checking; I'll try and get more posted soon._


	2. Ven is Born

_A/N: finally, chapter two. Sorry it took forever, I didn't have too much time. Note: The first three chapters are just the introductions of the main characters. _

**Chapter two: Ven is Born**

Mabel jumps out of her seat at the final bell. She's the first to escape the dreary History classroom, and the only student not lingering around idly. She carefully readied her bag before History so she could skip her locker and run straight home. A friend notices her zipping down the hall.

"What's up today, Mabel?" she calls after her.

"It's today! It's today! The pups are going to be born!" Mabel yells back excitedly.

"Good luck!"

"Thanks!" Mabel yells over her shoulder. She shoots out the door like a bullet and slips away from the clutches of school in a heartbeat. When she reaches home, she storms into the house and practically breaks down the door.

"Is it time? Is it time? I haven't missed it yet, have I?" she squeals excitedly. Her breathing is heavy as her mother turns to face her. Mabel's mother sets down the dish she was washing and motions for her daughter to follow.

"They came an hour ago," her mother replies simply.

They enter a snug little room where her father is bent over something in the corner. Sensing their presence, he moves out of the way to reveal a sleeping Espeon and her three newborn Eevee. The jewel on the Espeon's forehead shimmers as Ella approaches the cream colored pups.

The two female Eevee are nestled up to their mother, while the third is curled up farther away. A strange mark has been splashed onto the caremell forehead of the third. It almost seems to shine like his mother's ruby jewel.

"Which one's the oldest?" Mabel sighs absently minded.

"One of those girls. I can't really tell them apart, though. They look like twins," her father carries on. "You didn't really miss much, Mabel. It was the same as usual."

"Didn't miss much? Look at him!" Mabel points at the oddly marked pup, "He's incredible! I didn't know Eevee could be marked like that."

One of the female Eevee sits up and yawns.

"Lavendeau had a mark like that when she was born," Mabel's mother points out thoughtfully, "It faded after about a week or two after she was born, though. Marks like that never last."

The Espeon blinks tiredly and looks up when her name is mentioned. Mabel bends down and strokes her fine, lavender fur.

"What about Ebonum? Has he seen them yet?"

"Honey, he's had a long day. Besides, newborns are old news for that old Umbreon," her father says quickly, "he needs his rest right now. I'd just–"

"Ebonum!" Mabel cuts her father off in mid–sentence. Seconds after she calls for him, a midnight black Umbreon darts into the room. The golden rings circling his black body seem to move across his fur when he flexes his powerful muscles, and his crimson eyes seem to slice through Mabel's mind. She doesn't mind, though. She's used to it.

__________________________________________________________________

Ebonum's ears perk up at Mabel's windchime voice. He leaps to his paws and trots into the other room. When his eyes fall upon Mabel, thoughts begin streaming into his head. A power he's allways kept secret; whenever his eyes are set on humans, their thoughts pour into his own head and he can read them. At the moment, Mabel wants to name the Eevee newborns.

Ebonum sighs to himself as he sits at Lavendeau's side. He gives her a quick lick on the cheek, and then turns his attention to the pups.

"You three," he says in his gruff voice, "Look lively."

The Eevee lift their tiny heads and stumble to their little paws. Ebonum leans close to the eldest and sniffs her.

"This one shall be called Veecy," he says cooly.

"I'll tell her," Lavendeau agrees quietly. Suddenly, Mabel scoops up the Eevee and holds her inches from her parents faces.

"Can we call her Veecy?" she begs. They nod in approval and Mabel hugs the Eevee once more before replacing her at Lavendeau's side.

"Like clockwork . . ." Lavendeau mutters. Lavendeau, too has an unusual gift. She can suggest thoughts and ideas to humans. Mabel allways does what Lavendeau suggests.

Ebonum nudges the next Eevee gently. She's curled up again.

"This one is to be named Caremell."

Mabel strokes the Eevee softly as she says, "And this one . . . can we call this one Caremell?"

"Of course," her mother replies.

Ebonum finally turns to their youngest. He stares at the strange Eevee with curiosity. At last, he decides.

"And you . . . you," Ebonum nudges his son with his muzzle and he lifts his chin higher, "I'll call you Ven."

Lavendeau jumps at the name.

"Ebonum? Are you sure? That name . . ." she whispers.

"Of course. It's how he's to be named."

"Al . . . alright then."

Lavendeau sends on the thought to Mabel who doesn't hesitate to suggest the name. Her parents, of course oblige to the name without question. Ebonum and Lavendeau stay silent until the three of them finish their light chatter. At last, they leave the Pokemon to themselves.

"Ven? Why did you want to call him Ven? You know what that name means . . ." Lavendeau points out nervously.

"That mark . . . it means he's special." Ebonum answers definately.

Lavendeau sighs, "If you say so."

At that very moment, young Ven's tiny eyes blink open. The two of them gasp as he feasts his eyes on the world for the first time. Before his older sisters.

_A/N: and there you have it. Kikyo's beginning is next. If you're expecting any normal Pokemon in this series, you should know by now not to._


	3. Kikyo is Shunned

_A/N: Sorry the third Chapter is kind of crappy and small...Kikyo's birth was kind of short. I didn't want to go to into detail into what happens after she's born because I wanted to keep the first few similar in how it's written. It'll become different eventually, so don't worry about it being boring and predictable. Here's to Kikyo._

**Chapter Three: Kikyo is Shunned**

Meanwhile, in a distant forest no human has ever braved, a similar miracle is happening. An egg is about to hatch.

A Banette and a Gengar are huddled around it. The egg is black with little teal flecks scattered across its smooth face, and it's starting to shake and glow. A chip flies away from the egg and an evil smile spreads across the Gengar's already demented face.

"My son . . . my son will be born soon . . ." he cackles to himself. His purple claws are clutched together tightly. The Banette shifts uneasily.

"Gren?" she reluctantly asks through her zippered mouth, "How are you sure it's going to be . . . your son? It could be a girl, too, you know–"

The Gengar darts over to the Banette's side and whispers in her ear, "If it is, Misten, you won't like it any more than I will. Lets both just hope my son hatches from that egg."

Misten's body quivers. She doesn't like it when Gren sets his eyes on a prize. He becomes selfish and terrifying to even other ghost Pokemon. At last, the midnight shell splits down the middle, and the pieces suddenly go flying. A blinding light erupts from within and fades down to a dim sparkle to reveal the child – a dazzling, teal, girl Shuppet.

The strange Pokemon blinks and locks her gaze on the barren forest floor. She then shifts her view to the overcast sky. Her rag doll body continues to glitter.

"Well," Gren smiles and shoots daggers at their daughter, "this is disappointing. Not only is this creature a female Shuppet, but she's also an ugly color as well. I guess we find out what happens after all, right Misten? Darling?"

"Run Kikyo!" Misten cries out to the Shuppet. The teal Pokemon jumps at her mother's voice and stares in horror as Gren sends an agonizing Nightshade attack at Misten.

"Kikyo! Kikyo! Run!!!" Misten shrieks. Gren growls and fires Shadow Ball at Misten, slowing her. When she tries to run to Kikyo's side, he cackles and casts a Curse on her, causing her to crumple to the ground in defeat. Gren smiles to himself before turning to face Kikyo, who still hasn't moved a muscle. He begins charging another attack.

"Shame," he croons, "Kikyo is such a pretty name. It's just too bad you're such an ugly rag doll!"

Gren releases his attack and Kikyo darts nimbly out of harm's way. The angered Gengar snarls and launches another attack that she dodges easily.

"Why you . . ."

Gren claps his purple claws together and sets his gaze on Kikyo. When he rips his claws apart and a lighting fast move barrels right through her. It doesn't deal any damage to Kikyo; it instead locks her as the target. Gren fires a real attack once more. This time, it blasts its mark and injures Kikyo badly. She drops in altitude, but doesn't faint. Kikyo tears through the forest frantically. Gren starts to trail behind on his stubby little feet.

After a few yards, Gren gives up.

"Fine, you grubby little rag doll!" he screams after her, "Go ahead and run away! You'll never amount to anything more than a coward out there, though, you hear me? And no matter where in this cruel little world you decide to run to, someday I'll find you and take care of you just like I did your mother!"

Kikyo flies frantically through the forest. She doesn't dare slow in case her father decides to run after her again. The bright greenery merges and blurs with the dreary earth and sky as she glides across the forest. As she heads up the mountain, it begins to drizzle. It chills her, but she keeps going. It would be no warmer if she stops, and there is no way she can turn back now. Kikyo is on her own in the vast, terrible forest. And that's just a small speck in the world.

_A/N: And there you have it. For those of you feeling something's missing from the story, here's a memo; there usually is at the beginning. Minus is up next again. It'll be a pretty long chapter, because I'm going to try and introduce Hikari to those of you out there asking who the heck she is. I'll probably have more time since we're on the break. Until then, thanks for reading._


	4. Live

_A/N: Hello, A.C. here.(XD A.C. is also short for 'air conditioner'. XD) Haven't updated as soon as I'd of liked, but here it is anyway. Sorry to the person who was wondering who Hikari was, the chapter got a little to long. I was going to do a whopping three chapters in a row on Minus anyway, so just be patient. I'll have her in for sure at the end of the third. Minus lovers, (basically the people who got into the story because of him,) have fun. This is going to have a lot of important stuff to it in the next three chapters. (Including this one) Ven and Kikyo lovers, (people who clicked because of them,) hold on tight and DON'T skip the stuff on Minus. When their chronicles collide every little bit of each of their 'childhoods' (that's basically all it is so far, even for Minus) will play an important part of the story. I'll ramble on a little more after you read Ch. 4. Enjoy._

**Chapter Four: Live**

Minus awakens in a cozy little room with modern black and white furnishings, and huge windows looking out at an overcast morning sky. The bed he's lying on is soft and cloud-like, unlike anything he's ever felt before. He slowly runs a navy-blue paw over the black quilt as he rolls off of the covers. Minus keeps a paw on the bed as he attempts to stand, and finds his balance easier than before. Truth be told, it was designed not to be hard. He was born to balance his weight perfectly.

Minus lifts his paw and takes a step. He hasn't done a face plant yet, so he's making good progress. Another step. Just for the sake of doing it, Minus runs a paw over the glass surface of the nightstand. He likes the feel of the glass. Two steps at once, this time. He touches the lamp by the window and tilts his head. Gingerly, Minus tugs on the cord hanging from the shade. Light erupts from the lamp and fills the room with a warm, golden glow. Minus looks around, startled. He pulls on the cord again and the light disappears. He watches the cord swing around the lamp until it becomes still again.

He glances at the window and gasps. Not only is there an overcast sky outside, but some kind of garden as well. Even in the dim light, Minus can make out the lush greenery and the sparkling fountains and streams below. He presses his paws and face against the smooth cool glass in awe. If only he can go down there . . .

Suddenly, his eyes flutter shut. He can still see the garden below, but it's only an outline of energy. It's not what he's looking for. Minus shifts his gaze to the door and lets his vision pass through it. A weak aura is passing by. Minus ignores it, and continues down the hall.

At last, he sees the warm outline he's looking for. Minus opens his eyes and breaks away from the window. He has to study the door for a moment before he discovers it slides open. Minus is glad no one was around to see him pondering over something as simple as a door. Quietly as possible, he slips out into the hall. On his way to Edwin, several humans pass him and Minus feels their eyes burning holes into him. Minus can't grasp exactly why.

Edwin is facing the other direction when Minus approaches him, and he's not quite sure what to do or say. The young girl Edwin is talking with saves him.

"Who's here to see you?" she asks in a smooth voice.

"Hm?" Edwin blinks and whirls around. His bleary face lights up when he sees Minus. "Ah, this here is an experiment made by a friend. The first in the Minus Series. They call him Minus for short."

"The Minus Series?" the supermodel-like girl stares at him in bewilderment, "I thought the prototype of that series wasn't due for another two months!"

Edwin chuckles to himself, "You certainly have been keeping up on the latest developments. You're right. This actually has to do with the reason I called you. There was a mishap in the lab, and he was prematurely 'born,' but as of today he appears perfectly fine."

"Edwin," Minus tests thoughtfully. The girl jumps at his voice, obviously not aware he can speak.

"Hm?"

"Where . . . where am I?"

"You're at one of Globe-Tech's hundreds of condos. The yahoo's at the company decided to conduct all research on you here. It's fairly remote and wide open, and if you don't like it they'll take you wherever you want to be trained."

"Research? Trained?" Minus repeats.

"Yes. Since you are the very first of your kind, they want to take extra special interest in you. They don't want you to be uncomfortable or unhappy. They want you to do, experience, learn, and see everything you can. And although they haven't right out said it, they want you to be the most powerful Pokemon in the world."

Minus stares at him for a few seconds after, and then shakes his head, as if he can't take in everything at once.

"And just how are they going to do this?"

"Meet Acey. Today we're going to see how well you can do in a battle."

__________________________________________________________________

The cobblestones feel strangely wonderful under Minus's paws. Their texture fits perfectly with the feel of the crisp morning air. The fight arena is just as cleverly designed as the rest of the garden's landscaping, which Minus could only see a fraction of from his room. He's glad to be out in the garden at last, even if the sky is overcast. It looks just as beautiful to him as the rest of the outside world, regardless of its dreary color.

"Explain it to me again . . ." Minus mumbles nervously to Edwin, "How do I battle?"

"I will tell you to use attacks on the opposing Pokemon, and you will, to the best of your ability, carry them out," Edwin replies patiently.

"Right." Minus still sounds unsure.

"Ready over there?" Acey calls energetically. Her bouncy brown hair is pinned up in a messy bun with clips, barrettes, pins, and a pair of chopsticks. Her hazel eyes are alive with the heat of a challenge, and her cherry lips are teasing a smile. Acey sports three layers of tank tops, and a pair of those designer capris that are factory ripped with frayed hems. Her shoes are designers as well, though they're only a quiet, unimpressive style that was probably only a little popular last season. She fingers at a medium, jade-colored bag anxiously. Colorful stitches criss-cross the hems and pockets all the way up to the handles, which have been thrust over her right arm hurriedly. From her actions, Minus can tell that something important is in the bag.

"Yes!" Minus whirls to face her. She nods once and snatches a small red and white orb from the bag.

"Time, Emburn! Let's fly!"

Acey clicks a small button on the orb, hurls it into the air, and smiles as a burst of light explodes from it. The light quickly fades to reveal an orange and teal dragon-like Pokemon with a small flame on the tip of it's powerful tail. A Charizard. It roars and does a nose dive, unfurling it's huge wings a foot before it crashes into the cobbles. It lands and throws Minus a challenging look.

"You don't look so tough," it snarls.

"It doesn't matter how I look," Minus replies, slightly annoyed.

"I'm Emburn," he says. Emburn begins examining his wing, as if bored.

"I'm . . . Minus."

Emburn sighs, "Just shut up until I beat you. Then we can chat."

"Emburn, Flamethrower!"

The Charizard grins, says, "So don't worry. We can continue our conversation soon," and lets a stream of fire erupt from his jaws.

Minus's eyes widen as the flames jump towards him, and leaps into the air out of a reflex that was buried deep inside his DNA. Edwin raises an eyebrow and points at Emburn. Minus angles his body so that he plows right into the Charizard's wing. Emburn staggers back in surprise and then aims a punch at Minus. Minus easily dodges it and kicks him in the gut in the same move. The Charizard doubles over and backs off a bit. Minus nimbly runs back to his side of the field.

"Good Minus. Now try using Iron Tail," Edwin calmly instructs Minus when he returns.

"Right . . ." Minus whirls again and charges towards the agitated dragon. His tail begins to glow silver.

Acey stifles a laugh and points at Minus, saying, "Megapunch, Emburn!"

Emburn obliges her command with ease when the Lucario comes into range. He throws his fatal punch perfectly and catches Minus right in the stomach. Minus's eyes widen for a moment when the breath is knocked out of him, but the moment quickly passes when he channels the force from Emburn's feint into his own attack and thrusts his supercharged tail into his back. Emburn's spine makes a crunching noise, and he crumples to the ground. Acey's jaw drops, and she dashes to her partner's side.

"Emburn! Are you all right?" she cries. For a moment, he is completely still. Edwin starts power-walking towards the center of the arena in response to the rising panic.

Suddenly, the Charizard stirs and growls.

"Yea, I'm fine now. My back's been bothering me for weeks . . ." he groans in reply.

Acey seems not to hear Emburn's comment and throws her arms around him blubbering something about how she doesn't want him to die.

"Minus," Edwin calls sternly, "is he okay?"

"Yea . . . I think I popped his back."

"What do you mean by that? Be specific."

Minus cocks his head, "Why don't you ask him instead of me?"

"Well," Edwin bends down beside Emburn, "most Pokemon can't talk."

"He's talking just fine."

"I mean, Minus, most Pokemon can't speak the human language. You are an exception to this, and thus I need you to translate."

Minus shoots a look at Emburn who turns to glare at him in return.

"You okay?" Minus says.

"I'm fine, dog," Emburn replies gruffly.

"He's fine."

Edwin lets out a relieved sigh and starts shaking Acey gently.

"Acey, did you hear him? Your Charizard is fine!"

Acey continues sobbing for another ten minutes, regardless of what Edwin tries to calm her. When at last she does stop sobbing, a man arrives in the arena saying her monthly appointment is over. Acey reluctantly leaves the grounds with Emburn.

Edwin shakes his head and mumbles to himself as she drives away in her sleek, black car.

"You did very well," Edwin finally says aloud, "and you didn't kill that girl's Charizard, thank God."

"I didn't intend on killing him, Edwin. You said yourself battling was merely a sport."

Edwin blinks twice and looks as if he'd like to reply to this, yet he says nothing. Instead he considers Minus's actions for a moment, and at last waves his thoughts away.

"Follow me. I need to speak with you."

The two of them take an idle walk through the massive garden. Edwin comments on Minus's agile movements and his quick thinking in the earlier battle, while Minus thanks him politely for saying so. Edwin suddenly stops walking and looks out over the emerald waters of a pond. Minus stops too and admires the picturesque scene. Yanma hover lazily overhead while Poliwag play in the pristine waters. The glassy ripples lap against the finely trimmed shore neatly. White marble stepping stones cross through the pond like drops of icing on a cake. It's a perfect picture of refined and natural beauty blending and thriving together.

"Minus, you understand you're nothing but an experiment to those men you met when you first woke up," Edwin suddenly points out.

"Wh-what?" Minus is taken aback.

"Whether either of us choose to believe it or not, they will always think of you that way. I can't really come to think of you as that. I've thought of you as a person from the moment you opened your eyes, and I will treat you like one as well no matter how they want me to treat you."

"I thought you said they–"

"Those were their original orders to me. They have the authority to change that to fit whatever needs they might have," he says in disgust.

"What exactly are you supposed to do?" Minus reluctantly puts forward.

"I was hired to raise you and teach you. Ultimately, and mark my words, they will want me to make you powerful, ruthless, obedient, and smart. They want you to see as much as you can, yet I was hired to teach you about the world without actually taking you there. They don't want you to be unhappy, so they will try to make you ignorant by making you think of yourself as an animal. An experiment.

"But I don't have to tell them of my interceptions of what was written in the memo of the job. All you have to do, Minus, is trust me." Edwin outstretches a hand. Ruby eyes blink and stare at the leathery digits in return.

"Edwin? What am I supposed to do in return for all of this?"

Edwin pulls out a handful of breadcrumbs from his coat pocket with his other hand and casts them into the pond for the Pokemon. He chuckles to himself.

"Live, Minus. All you have to promise me, is that you'll live."

The Poliwag timidly form a circle around the breadcrumbs and watch them carefully. A Yanma hovers lower and devours a mouthful of the crumbs. The Poliwag look at each other for a moment, and then tackle the crumbs hungrily. Edwin chuckles to himself again when Minus holds out his paw and shakes. His laugh is very warmhearted.

_A/N: And there you have it. The next one will be long whether Hikari is introduced or not. Oh yea, I'm gonna inform you about some upcoming stuff that has to do with the story._

_**Upcoming 1:** I will start posting poems that have to do with the story line so far. They will come plastered in warnings to read this first just because it makes absolutely NO SENSE without reading this. I've already written a few, so expect them sometime later in the week. I'm going to call the 'fanfic' Pokemon Alliance Chronicles Poetry. _

_**Upcoming 2:** Sometime between the middle of the childhoods and the end of them I will make bios for each of the characters. The way I've decided to organize them is putting the character's names where it says 'Chapter', so it will be organized and sorta user-friendly. Don't expect this too soon. It might take a couple months before this is ready, but I'm just telling you now so you can look forward to it._

_**Upcoming 3:** The last thing I have to say is, PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING. A lot of the small things that seem minor in the story will be part of a huge plot. Here's a small list of things you need to remember for future chapters:_

_-Edwin's full name and basically every word he says_

_-Professor Heiman_

_-Brandnames_

_-Acey and Emburn(they will appear frequently later on in the story after the childhoods)_

_-The auras Minus sees and his current personality; it won't be the same at the end of his 'childhood,' but remember what he's first like as you read anyway_

_-Ven's name_

_-Kikyo's father_

_-Minus's eyes_

_-the lab assistant who got fired(Yea, I know that one's kinda late, but just remember him, okay?)_

_**Upcoming 4: **I need you avid readers out there to send me characters and their Pokemon. I'd like some public input on this story, as well as a break from brainstorming. ^.^" Coming up with names, nicknames, outfits, and most personalities can get tiring, so give the writer a break and send me some of yours. I'd preferably like the Pokemon to have nicknames, and NO LEGENDARYS on teams. I'd also like basic personality traits for both Pokemon and trainers as well. And never think it's too late to send them to me. When it really is too late to send me trainers, this will disappear from the author's notes._

_**Upcoming 5:** I will be changing the rating from 'K+' to 'T'. I think I already explained this on my profile, but for those of you who don't read it,(Which is the majority of you according to my stats I check every night) I'm going to have some minor language later on,(Basically uncommon curse words that pop up maybe once every few chapters) and also some minor gun scenes. I won't get too gruesome in the descriptions, don't worry. I'm not that kind of writer. I just don't think the 'K+' covers that. It's a pretty low 'T' though, so don't expect anything too drastic later on. _

_That's all for now. Hopefully the author's notes won't be as drawn out in the next chapter. I just had to inform a lot in this one. Thank you for reading._

_–Autumnchronicles(I'm going to sign the end of each chapter for now on. Yay! :D)_


	5. Negative Pokemon

_A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I've had homework during the week, and then I had UIL meets on the weekends. I finally found the time to update. *SPOILER ALERT*::: Hikari's coming next chapter!!! Can't wait to write it!!! :::*END SPOILER ALERT* enjoy._

**Chapter Five: Negative Pokemon**

The next day Minus wakes up to find breakfast thoughtfully laid out for him on his bedside table. The first platter is covered in helpings of croissants, buttered toast, chocolate chip pancakes with butter and syrup, generous fruit salads, blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls, glazed doughnuts, baked apples with cinnamon, and a side of just about ever topping from cheese to sugar to extra cinnamon. The second one carries a wide assortment of drinks. There are enough teacups to hold a small party, and there is one kettle for each cup. They each have a glass square placed on their finely painted skins that allow Minus to pear inside. There's caramel tea, green tea, jasmine tea, iced tea, ginger tea, Pau D'Arco tea, orange juice, hot chocolate, and milk. There are sides to the drinks as well. Sugar, honey, candy canes, Oreos, lemons, limes, cherries, chocolate shavings, whipped cream, marshmallows, and mints are lined up in little dishes and bowls on the drink tray.

Minus eats lavishly. He hasn't eaten since his first meal last night, when he first discovered he needed food to survive. His meal last night was very light, and not nearly enough to sustain him even a short time. By now, he's truly starving.

After gobbling up the blueberry muffins, he slows down a bit and samples a few bites of each food and drink. After indulging in the food for a half hour, he finally becomes full. He's devoured all five of the blueberry muffins, all four of the cinnamon rolls, all six of the cinnamon apples, two croissants, half of each fruit salad, the entire pile of chocolate chip pancakes, one piece of buttered toast, half of a glazed doughnut, some of the cheeses, a cup of green tea, four cups of hot chocolate, (with all the whipped cream, marshmallows, candy canes, and chocolate shavings, of course) three cups of milk and Oreos, and a sip of every other drink.

Minus quickly discovers that he has likes and dislikes in food. For instance, his favorite tea is the green tea, while he dislikes all the others. He doesn't like orange juice, buttered toast isn't all that great, Minus hates the doughnuts, and limes and lemons go with the tea he doesn't like. He simply adores chocolate, though. Chocolate and cinnamon have captured his taste buds.

Several minutes after he finishes his feast, there's a rap on the door. Minus looks up and closes his eyes. Through the door's thin outline, he can see Edwin's warm shape. Overjoyed, Minus answers his door.

"Edwin!" he cries.

"You act like you haven't seen me in years, Minus," Edwin chuckles in reply.

"Well . . ." Minus feels his face burn a little. He cocks his head. What is that? His face hasn't burned before. Is something wrong with it?

"Come, Minus. I'm going to properly introduce you to the Professor who created you."

Curious, he follows Edwin out into the hall. He shuts the door behind him, and begins telling Edwin all about breakfast. Although most people put in his place will find things like this most boring, Edwin seems genuinely interested in what Minus has to say. Of course, it is interesting to him. He's learning about an experiment's favorite and least favorite foods. It's brand new information.

They descend to the basement of the mansion, where they meet a door. He senses something important behind this door. Minus wraps up his story, and closes his eyes.

Energy dances before his eyes, and Minus realizes a ton of machinery is running in the next room. Only one human form is down here. The choppy, jagged outline of Professor Heimen.

Edwin pulls out a ring of keys and fits an elaborate one into the lock. The wooden door swings back and reveals another one. This one is more tech looking, with a mess of wires and metal strewn across a one-way, bullet proof slab of glass. Edwin tucks his key ring away in his pocket and whisks out a blank plastic card. He inserts it in a slot and a little red light flickers to life above it. More light flashes above them, but only Minus appears alarmed. Edwin is used to this.

A green grid appears on them, and the light scans up and down them a few times before shutting off. The red light remains blinking.

Without warning, a keypad shoots out of the wall, followed by a sleek microphone. Edwin cooly rests his fingers on the keyboard and begins punching letters and numbers into the system. The password's all gibberish to Minus, and it's the same to anybody else, whether they can read or not. After a minute or so Edwin finally ends the password, and a droning female voice is thrown from the machine in the wall.

"Please identify name, project, and business."

He leans closer to the mic.

"Edwin C. Riles, project number one-one-oh-eight, project name Negative P., Negative Lucario, Minus Experiment One, First installment in the Minus Series, installment of Globe-Tech, code name Dash PGT One, meeting with Heimen about subject one."

Satisfied by his long statement of nonsense, the computerized door unlocks itself and swings inward. Edwin smiles and leads Minus inside. The lighting is dim. In fact, the only light emits from the sleek computer screens. Most of the screensavers have been triggered from lack of use, but the ones that do show the screen are covered in codes and boring documents. The sceensavers all show dashes bouncing around inside. The dashes perfectly resemble the one Heimen showed Minus when he was first 'born.' The writing is all that's missing.

Professor Heimen emerges from the shadows right on cue.

"Fixing some cables," he explains. Minus wonders how he can fix cables in the dark like that. None of the computer screens reach back there.

"I brought Minus."

The Professor looks brighten. "Wonderful!"

He holds out a hand and beckons for Minus to take it. They shake hands (er, hand and paw?) and exchange petty greetings.

"We've met before, of course. When you were born. As you know, I'm Professor Heimen."

"And as you know, I'm Minus. What are we here for?"

Excited, the Professor rushes to the nearest computer and waves the screensaver away with a flick of the mouse. The desktop is littered with little square icons. Minus can't make out the picture beneath the clutter. After studying the desktop a moment, Heimen manages to find the one he's looking for. He double clicks and a window opens. He pounds in a few commands, and a nearby plasma screen comes to life.

Minus has to squint when it comes on. It's so wide, that it illuminates most of the room. Five blinks later, Minus finds himself staring at the computer screen. The plasma enlarges it.

"Minus," Heimen begins, "do you know what you are?"

"An exper–"

"No, no, no . . . I mean your species. You're a Negative of the Pokemon Lucario."

"A Negative?"

"Yes, um . . ." Professor Heimen types in a short command, and the negative of a painting pops up. He enters an extra command. The original appears on its right. "Like this. You're the Negative of a regular Lucario. The exact opposite. Just think of the regular Lucario as the one on the right, and you as the one on the left. There's a tiny little difference, though. In camera film, the negative is used to develop the original. In life, the original has to be used to find the negative. Do you understand what I mean?"

Absentmindedly, he nods.

"I'm . . . the Negative of a Lucario."

"Yes. Regular Lucario look like this."

The Professor pulls up another window, and a shot of a Lucario firing a blue Aura Sphere at something left of the camera. It's poise is perfect and it's air majestic. There's only one thing . . .

"It's color is different from mine."

"Of course. Remember the paintings? The negative is usually darker," Professor Heimen reminds him.

"So . . . if I'm a Negative . . . who's the Positive?"

For the first time since he introduced Minus, Edwin speaks.

"A lovely Lucario. Her name is Hikari. Her trainer donated her DNA to reflect yours off of. Your odd fur color might be because her small oddity– Hikari's an albino."

Minus is thoroughly confused now. There are too many types of his species to keep up with. He shivers at the thought of all the others he's never seen or heard of before.

"Albino?"

"Yes," Heimen continues what Edwin leaves unsaid, "it means she lacks pigment, or coloring in her fur. Her fur is very, very, light."

"Oh. Will I meet her?"

Professor Heimen laughs. Edwin shifts uneasily.

"It's quite unlikely," Heimen says after calming down some, "I mean, we've only met her trainer once, and that was when she gave us the DNA sample. You've got more important things to do than meet her, Minus. And you needn't feel lonely. There are humans everywhere, and new trainers and Pokemon come in and out all the time. Your time will be thoroughly occupied. I can guarantee you'll forget about her, Minus."

Minus shifts his weight. The way Heimen's talking is making him uncomfortable. It's not that he doesn't like some of the things he has planed, it's just the way he words it. Minus can't put his paw on it.

"Well. I can't stay and chat anymore. I have a dinner to prepare, you know," Professor Heimen states in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Come, Minus," Edwin gestures, "It's time to go."

As Minus starts up the stairs, he hears Edwin talking with the Professor in hushed whispers. He perks up his ears and has to cover his mouth to keep from chuckling. Edwin's whispering all his favorite breakfast foods to him, and he's remembering every single one.

He's just about to pass through the computerized door, when he hears him say, ". . . and take those doughnuts off his menu. He hates them, and You shouldn't be giving them to him anyway; they're loaded with sugar! And whose idea was it to serve him six different teas? Six? I mean, I can understand giving him samples to see what he likes, but that was enough to make an English person sick of tea! What were you thinking. . ."

Minus leaves before he can catch any more. He's really starting to like Edwin more. If only he can put his paw on the word for that, too . . .

_A/N: sorry if there were mistakes . . . I'll have to fix them later, but I'm just trying to get the chapter up. It's really late right now . . . and I'm tired. I'm so happy, one of my friends sent me a character to use later. :) (smiles sleepily) Come on, people! If she can set aside a couple minutes to pound down a character sketch (+ the Pokemon) on the keyboard, u can too. I'm gonna stop typing now before I say more embarrassing stuff . . . (doesn't like harassing readers) *yawn*_


	6. The Garden

_A/N: Woohoo! Finally got it written. I spent all morning writing this, so you BETTER ENJOY IT!!!! Ahem . . . so now that I've said that, here's the last chapter about Minus for a while._

**Chapter Six: The Garden**

Minus stands at the foot of a colossal glass dome. Tall trees and exotic plants grow inside. This is where Edwin has taken him.

"They're having a party to celebrate the company's success. It includes inviting the company's richest stock holders, biggest buyers, and best employees. They have a fancy, exquisite dinner that airs live on television – I'll show you what that is later, Minus – and then they show their unreleased products," Edwin tells him. He sighs. What he says next seems to be one of his own daydreams. "Someday they'll show you, too, but not as an invention or gadget. They'll show you for what you are and what you can do, and tell everyone that they can make others. And it won't be for money . . ."

Edwin trails off and seems to be thinking about what he says. He runs a hand through his graying hair. At last the faraway look fades from his deep sea colored eyes, and he continues cheerfully.

"Anyway, they don't want you to be seen till then. They want you to be a surprise."

"Okay," Minus agrees. He doesn't really want to be the center of attention of those important people. It sounds frightening.

"So, they told me to take you to a place where no one goes during the celebration."

"And . . .?"

Edwin chuckles and outstretches his arms. Minus looks up at the structure and suddenly feels very small. He's going in there.

"I know it may seem big, but it's so you don't get bored. I contacted some Pokemon Trainer friends of mine, and they all agreed to lend me their Pokemon for this. We sent them in there so you wouldn't be lonely, and so we could recreate a Pokemon habitat. I thought it would be good if you experienced the wild. It's not really the wild, but it's as close as they'll let you get."

"It's like a garden inside a garden," Minus whispers, still looking up. His brow creases as he tries to imagine what the other Pokemon look like. He's only seen a few so far, and the only one he's spoken with is Emburn, and that wasn't much of a conversation. Minus lowers his snout. "I'm ready."

Edwin takes out the blank plastic card from before, and gently taps it against a black screen. It lights up, considers his card, and turns green. The glass door slides open welcomingly. Rambunctious Pokemon cries sound from within. Minus takes a step towards the door, and quickly turns back to Edwin.

"Don't worry," he reassures the Lucario. "I'll be back to get you at ten thirty tonight."

Slowly and Wordlessly, Minus turns back to the door. He steps through the frame and into the artificial habitat, where he basks in the humid forest. The Negative Lucario steals a glance behind him and watches as the glass door closes. Edwin waves at him encouragingly, and Minus smiles a crooked smile, with one corner of his mouth further up than the other. He whirls back to the lush greenery and begins running. He cuts straight through the forest like an arrow, and soon, he's in the heart. Minus falters and gasps. A spring bubbles up from a piece of elevated ground. The clear waters tumble over the rich ground and into a small waterfall that empties out into a small lake. Mossy rocks line the edges of it, and water Pokemon swim beneath its glassy surface.

He looks to the trees, and sees even more clambering around in their boughs. Some are even soaring above their canopies. When his gaze returns to the ground, he catches sight of even more running around the small plants and dodging the thick tree trunks. There are so many different kinds. Even the Pokemon of the same species are unique from each other. Minus suddenly feels extremely overwhelmed.

He starts to back away, but he suddenly runs into one of the other Pokemon.

"Hey," it cries. "Watch it."

"Sorry," Minus apologizes. He turns around to see a four legged Pokemon with spiky yellow and white fur. It stares up at him with inky eyes. Its fur bristles.

"Whoa," he gasps. "You're . . . that Negative, aren't you?"

"Um, yea. How'd you know?"

"My trainer talks to herself. She was saying how exciting it was for her team to be hanging out with you. She's one of those people who don't realize we understand," the Pokemon laughs. His voice is clear and pleasing to hear, and Minus can detect a crackling quality to it. "Not many of the others know what we're all here for. Just my team, and a couple of weird dogs that aren't hanging with anyone else."

"I'm Minus."

"Name's Sent. I'm a Jolteon. The team ran off ages ago."

"Where are those two you were talking about, anyway? You said they were . . ."

"They're kinda antisocial. They seemed distracted when I talked to them. They're over here."

Sent trots over to a squat oak with thick branches. The trunk is so thick, that Minus couldn't fit his arms around it even if they were twice as long. The Jolteon leaps onto the base of the trunk, which is generally flat and gently slopes up to the rest of the tree. The leaves hide the Pokemon inside, but Minus can hear them mumbling about something, and when he closes his eyes he can see two shapes in the tree.

"Hey!" Sent calls, "Khaz! Lakota!"

The muttering stops, and for a moment nothing happens. Sent looks ready to call again, when suddenly two dog Pokemon leap down from the oak. The larger one's body is covered in a thick, ginger colored coat with black stripes. His mane, chest, hind legs, and tail are covered with an even longer cream-colored fur. The Pokemon's build is strong, and his gaze kindly. His companion is much smaller, but he's still a tad larger than Sent. The smaller of the two has pure white fur, but his face, claws, and tail are jet-black. An ink colored oval sits on his forehead, and a strange black scythe seems to be growing from the side of his face.

"Yes?" the larger of the two says in a deep, growling voice.

"This is Minus," Sent explains. "He's what we've been waiting for."

The two seem surprised.

"Him," the white Pokemon states blankly.

"A Lucario . . . a dog Pokemon like us . . ." the orange one mutters to himself. They look at each other, and they make eye contact with Minus.

"You're Minus?" the orange Pokemon says.

"Yes. Who are you?"

"I'm Khaz, the Arcanine," he replies.

"I'm Lakota, the Disaster Pokemon," the white one says absentmindedly. Minus shivers and expects him to state his species, but he doesn't.

"He's an Absol," Khaz explains for him.

"You were . . . expecting me?" Minus inquires.

"Yes," the Arcanine nods. "Our trainer has spoken of you since before you were born. Her excitement has rubbed off on us. I'm so glad to meet you. You are the first of a new kind of Pokemon. Not in species, but like . . . the Shinnies. They are the same species as all the other Pokemon, it's just that they're different colors. You're much like that, yet it extends farther. Your kind has opened a new age of Pokemon. An age we are eager to see set in motion."

Minus tilts his head and catches sight of Lakota in his peripheral vision. The Pokemon doesn't seem all that excited. He's exactly what Sent described. The Arcanine just needed to open up. Khaz sounds really quite friendly.

"Why do you want my kind to be in abundance?" Minus finally asks.

"We want to be mirrored. As Hikari was."

Minus's ears prick up. Again, she is mentioned. Who is she? Is Hikari really this important? Minus longs to meet her all the more.

"You mean, you want there to be Negatives of yourselves?"

"Yes," Lakota unexpectedly replies. "If we learned from the opposites of ourselves, we'd soon posses a large amount of power and knowledge from the experience. We would become stronger in the heart and mind."

As Lakota falls silent again, Sent suddenly pipes up.

"Hey, I just found one of my team!" the Jolteon exclaims. "Dropp!"

A water Pokemon springs out of the lake Minus was admiring earlier. Droplets of water trail down its light blue skin. A shell encases its small body. It strongly resembles a turtle.

"Hi!" the Pokemon cries happily. "Hi, Sent!"

She slowly runs up to Sent. She can't go that fast on land, but Sent is patient with the baby Pokemon. At last, she reaches the Jolteon's side. She leaps up again and throws her stubby arms around his neck. Sent nuzzles Dropp affectionately and gently sets her down.

"The only baby on our team. She's a level seven Squirtle."

Lakota and Khaz watch with fascination.

"An electric type . . ." Lakota trails off.

"Tolerating a water type. You don't see that often," Khaz finishes. "You two share a strong bond."

"Yea," Sent agrees shyly, "I guess." He nuzzles the little Squirtle again. She places a webbed paw on his forehead.

Lakota suddenly jerks his gaze upward. A huge, tawny bird suddenly swoops down on Sent and Dropp! Sent can't shock the bird, because Dropp is too near. The Jolteon snaps at it fiercely. He only manages to catch a few feathers in his maw. It tries to peck at the Squirtle with its long, sharp beak, but Lakota jumps to the rescue and knocks the Fearow aside before it can. He battles ferociously with the bird, who keeps trying to charge at Sent and Dropp. Its attempts are in vain.

The Absol seems to have blazed to life. The battlefield is where he belongs. Lakota moves with such grace and speed, and attacks with great power and accuracy. The Fearow can't lay a scratch on him.

He's just about to give the finishing blow, when a red and black Pokemon springs from the trees and knocks him down. It smiles evilly and holds a white claw to Lakota's throat. The Fearow folds its wings and glares.

"Who's this guy?" The Pokemon pinning down Lakota demands. The Absol's muscles tense up.

"Why are you attacking us?" Khaz steps forward.

"Bur was going after you three," the Pokemon nods at the Fearow. "He was just bullying Sent and Dropp a little. Wasn't like he was going to hurt him bad."

"That's Scarlet and Bur," Sent says. His muzzle quivers. "They're on the team of our trainer's rival."

"That's right," Scarlet sniggers with a smirk, "I'm Scarlet the Weavile. We were just dropping in for a visit. I mean, you were in the area."

Lakota begins snarling, "If you know what's good for you, you'll get off my back, snowblower."

Scarlet scowls and kicks Lakota aside. The Absol lands on his feet, but one of his forepaws is strained. He holds it close to his body as he runs back to the group. Once with their ranks again, he turns back and glowers at the Weavile.

"Humph. I don't have time for this," Scarlet scoffs. "C'mon, Bur. Lets find Kim and Shadowmare."

As Scarlet and Bur leave, Minus realizes something. There are both good and bad Pokemon. Or, at least, that's what he concludes.

Lakota limps back to the oak and lies down on the flat trunk. He curls up and doesn't talk to them anymore. Not because of his hurt paw, but because of his hurt pride. That he was taken down by a Weavile.

Minus spends the rest of the afternoon with Khaz, Sent, and Dropp. Near sunset, Sent meets up with the rest of his team, and he introduces Minus. There's Stryker the Pikachu, Skare the Noctowl, Housshi the Grovyle, and Flair the Typhlosion. They never see the Weavile and Fearow again.

Minus learns that Sent is like a leader to the others on his team. He also finds that Khaz is a friendly Pokemon by nature, and others are naturally kind to him as well. They're all very good friends to have.

Two hours after sunset fireworks begin lighting up the sky. All the Pokemon stop what they're doing to admire the brilliant display. Minus had forgotten all about the dinner until now. They dance around the moon for a while, and soon they stop. Once the sky is quieted, everyone begins nodding off. Minus is the last to fall asleep, because he's waiting for ten thirty to come. He never makes it. Sleep meets him at nine.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Minus wakes the next morning to find all his newfound friends gone. Their trainers must have come in the night, or early this morning. He's sad that they're gone.

The Lucario stretches and looks around. He falters. There, curled up where everyone left him last night, is Lakota. Khaz is curled up on the ground next to him.

"Khaz," Minus says. The Arcanine's eyes open and he rises groggily.

"Yes?"

"Why are you still here? Everyone else is gone."

"Our trainer is . . . away. We're staying here until she returns. It might be a while."

Minus's spirits lift.

"Anyway, you should be going," Khaz yawns. "We need to rest more."

"Okay. See you later."

Minus turns tail and dashes off through the artificial forest. Halfway back to the glass door, a sound meets his ears. He skids to a stop and closes his eyes. The shape that meets his eyes stuns him. It emerges from the trees and stops in front of him. Slowly, he opens his eyes.

It's Hikari. The Albino Lucario.

_A/N: OOoooOOOooOOOhh! Cliff hanger! And you won't find out what happens until.... six chapters from now! Mwahahahaha! Ven's three chapters are next. I don't have much else to say....._


	7. Ven's Daydreams

_A/N: Hey! Here's number seven! Surprised to see me updating so soon? Well . . . I decided to make a schedule. I'm writing this and a novel at the same time, so it's kind of chaotic sometimes. But I've decided to dedicate the beginning of my Saturdays to writing/posting/editing this series. :) Anyway . . . I forgot to give credit in my last chapter to the one who made the team of Khaz the Arcanine and Lakota the Absol. She thought up their trainer too, but she won't be introduced until after the 'childhoods.' Give a big round of applause to my good friend who's known to Youtube as nejifreak22. :D (Sorry for forgetting last chapter, Lauren . . . -_-") Anyway, I tried to include a small description of all the characters in this chapter, because I know it's been a while since you've all read about Ven . . . I made most of this chapter up as I was going along. So I'm kinda sorry about the end . . ._

**Chapter Seven: Ven's Daydreams**

A week passes and the other two Eevee pups open their eyes as well. All three are healthy, but Ven, the youngest pup with that strange mark on his forehead, acts the oddest. Yes, he was the first to open his eyes. But he was the last to hear. When Eevee pups are born, they are both blind and deaf. It was strange for him to see the world only an hour after his birth, but his parents quickly found out that he wouldn't respond to sound. He remained so for such a long time, that they began to think he would remain deaf for the rest of his life. His sisters heard an hour after their birth. They saw for the first time one day before Ven seemed to hear for the first time in the same day.

"Ven," Ebonum had tried halfheartedly, "can you hear me, son?"

Ven appeared not to have heard him as he continued to stare at the canvas that Mabel's father had nailed up so long ago. The oils had been carefully spread across the white cloth, until a picture had been formed. Ebonum and Lavendeau never really looked at the painting. As far as they were concerned, it had always been there, and it would always be there.

"Ven," the Umbreon had then growled. His son had not stirred. He just continued gazing at the painting. Ebonum gave up and padded over to where his son was sitting. He craned his neck and tried to find what his son found so interesting in the painting. It was what an artist had imagined the Other World to look like. A world where Pokemon were free from humans. A paradise. Ebonum had snorted at this thought. Humans had given him a home here. He didn't understand why a Pokemon would want to live without them. His son hadn't known this, though. He didn't realize much of the world. When he first saw the blurry world for the first time, he had spied the painting and wondered. He had still wondered.

Ebonum then dropped his black head and tossed it from side to side. He mumbled to himself, not expecting an answer, for his mate and daughters were enjoying themselves in the freedom of the enclosed meadow behind the house. They usually stay there, except when his mate is about to birth or rain drenches their yard.

"Why must you waste your time staring up at that fantasy when you should be living your life here?"

Ven continued to stare up at the picture. "Why would someone paint this if they did not want someone to look at it and wonder what it means?"

Ebonum jumped and gaped at Ven.

"You can hear me?" he inquired.

"Yes," the Eevee turned his head to acknowledge his father as he answered, and then he went back to studying the strange picture.

Ebonum's brow creases worriedly as he recalls that day. He managed to shoe him out into the shade and sunlight of the enclosed meadow today. It's been two days since his son first showed sign of hearing.

Even now the Eevee spaces out from time to time. He spies things in the yard and ponders their presence silently. Sometimes he doesn't even look at the object, and instead daydreams. But this occurs only rarely. Ven can stare at a single blade of grass for hours if neither Ebonum or Lavendeau nudges him or calls for him to play with his sisters, Caremell and Veecy. The humans don't excite him either, as they should when they bring food and affection. It bothers Ebonum that the human's own young one, Mabel, doesn't appeal to his son as she has to his past pups.

A growl forms in Ebonum's throat. Ven is staring at the bright red watering can Lavendeau's own human uses to water her colorful garden. It was only a moment ago his son's eyes were locked on the vivid flowers. Grumbling, he trots over to Ven and nudges the pup. Startled, a shiver runs down his thin coat and his fearful gaze dashes to the stern Umbreon.

"Why must you keep staring?" Ebonum growls. His voice carries only a trace of sternness. It's the depth that makes him intimidating.

"I . . . I can't help it!" Ven stammers. In truth, the small Eevee isn't lying. He really can't help it. The world keeps calling to his bright eyes, and he enjoys answering it's sparkling voice. Ebonum doesn't know it, but his son has extraordinarily better eyesight than most of his kind. He can see colors in a brighter variety, and Ven can zoom in closer if he focuses, making every detail visible to him.

Ebonum shakes his head.

"Why don't you play with your sisters?"

Ven turns his small head and his dagger-like ears droop. He's not particularly fond of his sisters. They chatter too much, and they act oblivious to the incredible world around them. Caremell only cares about dashing around the yard as swiftly as she can, and Veecy is fainthearted and a tad lazy. They don't care if the sky is clear or overcast, or if the flowers are covered in dew or not or not.

"Do I have to?" he grumbles. Ebonum's inky face hardens and he motions for Ven to go. The Eevee sighs and his bushy tail drops as he trots over to the girls.

He hears them arguing. He'd turn back now, but he feels his fathers eyes boring into his back. As Ven approaches, Caremell's ears perk up and she sprints up to her brother.

"Ven! Ven! Will you race me? Veecy won't!" his energetic sister yaps. His whole body seems to droop. Ven steals a glance over his shoulder to see Ebonum and Lavendeau looking at him. A snarl builds up in his throat, but he holds it back.

"Sure . . ." he grumbles darkly. Caremell only seems to sense his discomfort for a second before she darts off happily to the maple tree she likes to use as a start and finish line. It lies near the edge of the tall, red boards that mark the yard boundary. Ven walks over to the starting line and stands there apprehensively. He's never really tried running before. Caremell is oblivious to this as she shakes out her paws in preparation.

At last she's ready, and she calls out to her sister. "Veecy! Stand at the tree and call the winner when one of us pass the trunk."

Veecy docilely obliges.

"Ready . . ." Veecy says. Ven tenses up at the word. Caremell seems perfectly calm. "Set . . . go!"

Caremell darts across the yard. Ven is stalled as he tries to figure out how to work his legs, but he's soon rocketing off after her. Now, their yard isn't one of those ten foot by ten foot boxes city people keep their pets in that are so cramped, that whatever inhabits the space rams their head the instant they take off. This place is a yard, and the fence closing it off is a considerable distance long. So it isn't surprising that Ven has enough room to catch up with his older sister.

"Well," she pants as they pass the first quarter of the fence, "you've sure found your paws fast."

"I guess," Ven replies as he nears her tail. He almost passes her up, when she suddenly finds another burst of energy. Ven falls behind again, but not quite as far as before. He's only just keeping up. Ven begins nearing her again when they reach halfway, and she sprints away once more. He starts gaining on her again, when suddenly, only a few yards away from the third quarter of fence, an exhilarating feeling enters his system and he passes his own sister up. Not even her third burst of speed can beat him. Ven's just about to leap on the finish line, when the ground seems to jump up at him and he stumbles. He watches bitterly as Caremell finishes first.

"Caremell!" Veecy cries, "Caremell wins!"

Ven shakily rises to his feet and blinks. His eyes scan the ground for the object that tripped him, but all he sees is grass. He tripped over his own feet. Ashamed, he trots over to his mothers side and drops his head. She nudges him.

"It was your first try, dear," Lavendeau whispers tenderly. "You did very well."

Ven's ears perk up at this and he goes over to Caremell.

"Good job," he manages to choke. "Can we race again?"

She's just about to say yes, when Veecy pipes up.

"I want to race too!"

Caremell stares at her oddly. Their earlier argument had been to get her sister to race her. She shrugs it off and pads lightly over to the maple. Veecy and Ven join her.

"Mother," Caremell calls politely, "will you please judge us?"

Lavendeau chuckles and trots over to the maple. "Ready . . ." Ven's ready this time. "Set . . . go!"

All three pups speed off. Veecy at the back, then Caremell, and finally Ven, who's proudly leading the race. They stay this way up to the first quarter, where Caremell suddenly overtakes Ven. He lets her, though. He's following her strategy from their previous race, but slightly different. Soon Veecy is coming up behind him, too. Once she's a yard away, he speeds on ahead and takes the lead again, where he stays till they're a little ways past the halfway mark. Caremell speeds in front again as Ven stores up his energy. He suddenly closes his eyes and listens as the wind sings through his fur. For a moment, he finds himself not in the yard, but in the sky. Flying. He feels himself slowing as the feeling rushes over him. Ven doesn't realize it, but he's daydreaming. He's rudely pulled back to the yard when Veecy leaps in front of him and shoves a paw into his face. His eyes snap open in surprise just when it meets his face, and the tiny black claws dig into his right eye. He howls in pain and runs into a tree.

Veecy smirks and overtakes a startled Caremell, who stops to when her brother falls. The race is forgotten by all but Veecy, who pretends not to have noticed the accident. Lavendeau and Ebonum hadn't seen Veecy slash at Ven's eye, so when they ran to his side and found him lying at the base of a tree near a pile shattered brambles with a bleeding eye, they assumed the same as him– that the branch had cost him the sight in his right eye. It had happened so fast, that this was actually what he'd assumed when he'd collided with the tree and snapped the dead limbs from the tree with his forehead. He had enough scratches on his face to make it plausible.

Ven did know that Veecy had been the reason he'd spooked. He thinks that his own terror caused him to barrel into the tree by jumping out in front of him, but his parents would never even believe that she'd been there to startle him. She'd finished first.

Caremell licks his bloodied face until the humans burst out of the house and the older ones drive Ven and his parents to a vet, while they leave the young one to look after Veecy and Caremell. He's sad to leave Caremell behind. He realizes that she's not as bad as he first thought. But he also realizes that Veecy is an even bigger coward than he first took her for. She never admits to jumping in front of him the way she did. Ven loses the sight in his right eye not realizing his own sister did it to him. Ven never opens his right eye again.

When he returns home the next day, he doesn't stare anymore, and the daydreams he does have are darker, and they make him shiver. He sets himself apart from the rest of his family, returning only to nuzzle his mother's belly to feed. Ebonum doesn't bother him again.

_A/N: I'm sorry it's really sad . . . I didn't really realize that he was going to lose the sight in his right eye until I suddenly wrote that his sister scratched him, and before I knew it I was going along with it. I guess they're all going to have rough childhoods, now . . ._


	8. Kikyo's Terror

_A/N: Okay, I know this is the shortest dang chapter ever, and that I promised to update last week, and that I was going to write about Ven, but here's my explanation. I have Platinum fever. I know you know what that means, and you can't blame me. It's the best Pokemon game ever! (says that every time a new one comes out) Yea . . . and last Saturday, I literally forgot. I remembered when I bought the game. XD sooo . . . that's why I didn't write much. I just wrote this to try and keep true to my word. I was going to do Ven, but I didn't really feel like it. I felt like I needed to explain what was happening to Kikyo while all this was going on with Minus and Ven. You might need to reread Chapter 3 if you forgot what happened to Kikyo, because this is adding onto that. I just suddenly felt like writing about her. So, here you go. While Ven's staring at a painting with his eye for the last time and Minus is either beating up Emburn, stuffing his face with cinnamon rolls, or gawking at Hikari, (not so sure yet) here's what our favorite little Shuppet is going through. In other words, meanwhile . . ._

**Chapter 8: Kikyo's Terror**

It is a well known fact that most Pokemon are afraid of ghost Pokemon. However, this fact doesn't apply to Kikyo. In her case, all other Pokemon scare her. She's been on her own for days without food, and she's had only a few sips of water. Kikyo is terribly weak and frightened.

Now, most people assume because of their type that ghost Pokemon can't die, and don't need food, water, or sleep. This isn't true. They are still alive in a sense that they think, talk, move, and have souls, and like all other living things, they have basic needs. If a ghost Pokemon doesn't meet these needs, they will eventually 'die,' and when this happens, they usually disappear. It's probably because they are only souls and have no definite body. There are a few exceptions to this rule, like Drifloon and Drifblim, for example, but it's basically how it goes. I've explained this to make sure you understand that ghost Pokemon begin flickering when they are terribly close to this kind of death. Because Kikyo is flickering badly. Most ghost Pokemon can go without these necessities for weeks, but Kikyo's only a baby, after all.

The shiny Shuppet has been wandering around the mountain since the day of her birth. She's not totally dehydrated yet, because it's been raining since the day of her birth. But she hasn't figured out how to eat yet.

She found some berries once on the first day, but she didn't even realize she needed them, or even that they were food. She hardly has any instincts at all. The only instincts she has is to keep moving and avoid other Pokemon.

Every time she stumbles across one, she freezes up for a moment before darting off. If any one of these Pokemon happened to be dangerous, she would be dead by now. Thankfully for her, they're all harmless. A Bidoof here, out to enjoy the drizzle, a little family of Murkrow pecking at the mud for food, a Chatot screeching over the rain. Kikyo's been running from Pokemon like these for days, now. She can't do it anymore.

When a short, chubby blue and cream Pokemon bursts from the trees with a trainer on his tail, Kikyo stares at them tiredly. She doesn't freeze up, and she doesn't flee. She just stares until her last bit of energy dries up and she falls to the ground unconscious.

_A/N: Short, sweet, and to the point. Okay, not to the point. Have a guess at what the 'short, chubby blue and cream Pokemon' is. I got tired of saying things straight out, and it might just hold you until next week. Or not. Who knows. Now, back to Platinum . . . I should probably Crasher Wake, now . . . _


	9. Ven's Nightmares

_A/N: Sorry I haven't been true to my word . . . T.T I had SO many projects though! And I was reading Case Closed excessively on the side! And I'm about to challenge the Elite Four on Platinum! (I SO would've gotten farther if it hadn't been for all that's been going on! I usually finish the Pokemon Games main plots in THREE DAYS! So don't think you're better than me just because I'm slow. I've had a lot on my plate. (And I could SO beat you even if you had a full level 100 team and my team was only 100, 96, 89, 73, 75, and 65! Yea, I'm seriously THAT GOOD! I did that twice in a row with my sister who got a billion rare candies from an action replay thingie she begged this one guy to use and then challenged me to brag only to be epicly defeated!)) Yea . . . ahem . . . I'll stop bragging like a jerk . . . just scratch out everything in the parenthesis. (hates it when true thoughts show like that) Anywho . . . this chapter is about Ven, as promised. Just so there's no confusion, it's a dream. It moves at a somewhat fast pace, so just try the best you can to keep up. Im tired, so it that's the excuse I'm using for any problems you manage to come up with . . . (not that no one ever tells me about them if there are any, but just for you silents out there) . . . till the end of the chapter, then._

**Chapter 9: Ven's Nightmares**

He's running. Again. He's been running a lot lately. Ven wonders why he's always running in his dreams. This has been going on for quite some time, now. Every single night.

Ven runs through the same mountains and the same trees, and just when he feels he's about to reach somewhere important, his right eye begins throbbing and he's whisked away somewhere else. He shakes his head, physically as well as inside the dreamworld, and his surroundings become clear. He's on the grounds of some kind of mansion. A striking garden grows up around him that's far more beautiful than Lavendeau's human's own small bed that lies in the cool shade of the Victorian.

As his click on the cobblestones, Ven completely forgets he's sprawled out in the grass back in the yard. He's in the garden, alone, just outside this mansion. He's only visited the mountains and the city before in these dreams. Never here.

The Eevee is suddenly aware that he's not alone as he originally assumed. Someone or something is nearby . . . he can't see it, though. It lies past his line of vision to his right. But he can here it. It's breathing heavily . . . moving stealthily . . . no, wait, that's him. He's moving stealthily. This . . . thing, whatever it is, is his prey . . . no matter its size . . . no matter its strength . . . Ven knows he can match it. He knows . . .

Suddenly, a flash of darkness lights up the night. It's in heavy defiance of the further darkness it should bring, yet it's somehow so full of shadowy aura that it lights up the overcast dusk. It calls forth more shadows that dance around Ven nightmarishly. Wherever the bright darkness touches him, it goes numb. Ven shrinks close to the ground and begins to tremble. He wasn't expecting this.

"Who are you?" Ven exclaims to the creature. His voice is coated in fear and it comes out in a rasp.

"I'm . . . I'm . . ." the creature at first doesn't seem to know himself. It's voice is deep and cold. Once, perhaps, it might have been warm, but Ven can barely detect this in it now. It finds it's bearings. "I'm a nightmare."

The glowing shadows back off from Ven just enough so he can move. He whirls to catch sight of whatever it is, and gasps. Two, pure black orbs glower back at him, unblinking. They, too, seem to give off a glow like the aura it attacked him with, but something seems to lie past its inky eyes, much like the warm voice that was hidden inside the evil one. This creature is not what it seems at all.

"I ask again," Ven growls bravely, "who are you?"

"Why do you ask? I answered!" the creature bellows. Ven is awestruck. He can hear fear in its voice, too.

"I . . . I think you aren't what you say you are! You're hiding behind a mask, and I want to know what's behind it!"

"Behind it? There's nothing but more darkness and a soul tainted by it!"

"Yet I can see light inside you! Who are you? Answer!" Ven suddenly feels older than he really is by perhaps years. He feels as if he knows this . . . darkness. Or at least the light that lies within it that he's sure he can detect. What's happening?

"Light . . ." the shadow's black eyes flicker blood red. Ven shivers at first, and then he suddenly understands that its the color they should be. "Light . . . light . . . in the darkness . . . HIKARI!"

Ven jumps back. His hindquarters go numb, but he doesn't want to be any closer. He doesn't have to be for long. The shadows surrounding them begin cracking. The beast repeats the word, or name, whichever it is, over and over again in a haunted voice.

"I . . . I'd nearly forgotten who I started this for . . . I was doing this for you, Hikari, but I got caught up in my shadow as I sought revenge . . . I'm sorry . . . Hikari . . ."

The dark veil shatters into a thousand stars that span out around them and swallow up the garden, until they are both sitting in the night sky like stars themselves, looking down on their world. The red eyed Pokemon seems to really see Ven for the first time.

"Wha . . ." its eyes widen. Ven cocks his head and steps closer. He doesn't plummet, or float, or glide, he just steps, as if walking on an invisible road.

"Ven?"

The Eevee stumbles and jerks his gaze upward.

"I . . . I almost didn't recognize you! What are you doing here?"

"I should ask the same of you. Where were we, and where are we?"

"Oh, you've never been there. It's the mansion I told you about, remember? At least, that was as I remembered it. I'm sorry you had to see me . . . like that, though," he pauses. "And I guess we're . . . just here."

"Okay. I have another one for you. Who are you?" This is too strange. Ven knows this is a dream. He's known it all along, but it's become way too realistic and come much too far for comfort. If this really is happening, then it's highly unlikely this Pokemon knows any other Eevee called Ven who has the same birthmark as well as the same bad eye as him. Something's definitely up.

"What?" the Pokemon laughs uneasily. It seems to think it's a joke for a second before the realization takes it over. "V-Ven? It's me. It's me!"

The fear from earlier returns to it's eyes. Ven shivers and shakes his ears to and fro.

"I'm sorry. I don't recognize you. You're still to dark to see."

It's true, shadows still encase this mysterious Pokemon. Only his ruby red eyes are visible through all the eerie mist that's collecting around him again. It seems this Pokemon hasn't completely defeated whatever this is yet. Ven hopes that someday he can.

Ven begins walking back. They never really came here from a direction. He just knows where to go.

"Wait! Ven! Don't leave me too! Don't leave me again!" he cries.

Ven pauses and blinks his good eye confusedly.

"I . . . I have to go. Good luck," Ven says. He's sure he could've said something deeper as he parted with this stranger, but he feels he'll be leaving the dreamworld soon anyway. The stranger continues to cry his name as he leaves. His name and the one before.

"Ven! Ven! VEN! No, please don't leave me again! Hikari, no! Hikari! Wait!Ven! Hikari! Veeeeeen!"

Ven finds himself falling as this last note echoes through the lightening sky. Dawn is approaching this side of the world. As they were speaking, they were getting nearer and nearer to the Earth until they were barely in the boundaries of the atmosphere. It's not so far down as he originally perceived, and he doesn't even fall the full length. Halfway down his dream shifts and he suddenly finds himself staring at an older version of . . . Caremell?! Yes, it's her. Still an Eevee, but taller, slenderer, more feminine.

The future. It suddenly dawns on Ven. That Pokemon, he meets it in the future. This is why it recognized him and he didn't recognize it. Someday, after he will meet whoever it is, he will leave him. But he won't be the first to leave him. The stranger will loose someone else first . . . but who? He can't . . . remember . . . that name . . .

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ven wakes to the sound of his mother calling his name over and over again. This causes him to forget the other who was calling him. He forgets what he saw in the future as he runs across that yard, and reader, I can tell you right now he won't remember that night for a very, very, very long time. And by then it will be too late to warn _him._

_A/N: Okay, so you're probably all wondering who that mysterious stranger is by now . . . mwahahaha . . . (okay, some of you MIGHT have figured out who it is, but you never know! I might twist the whole plot around drastically, so you'll never know until probably chapter 50 who this guy is! Mwahahahahahah!) Oh, yea, I'm still taking OC's, for anyone who wasn't sure. Haven't really posted any news in a while . . . probably won't have time to post the bios or update the poetry, though. Might write another chapter tomorrow, only a 50% chance of it though. Sheesh, I sound like the weather man. That guy's always wrong. He predicted snow one day, and guess what? It was 70 degrees that day! I tell you, it's terrible. That's like this other time . . ._

_Minus: Okay, no more Chinese takeout for you!_

_Me: B-but, *sniff* I like fortune cookies! And egg rolls! And fried rice! And that pink sweet and sour sauce I always order!_

_Ven: Bedtime for you . . ._

_Me: NO!_

_Minus and Ven: Yes! Goodnight everyone, better leave now before this gets violent. _

_*Boom*_

_Me: Well, too late for that . . . Wynaut got here. (Inside joke; we were listing the ultimate Pokemon villains one day, when Wynaut's name suddenly popped up. We started cracking up, and he's been the ultimate evil in that world ever since. XD) Bye bye_


	10. Battles

_A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter. It's Ven's last for a while, and Kikyo's is next. You finally get to find out what that 'chubby blue and white' Pokemon is. XD This chapter was more planned, except there was one part that was kinda added. Those of you who thought you were so sure who that Pokemon Ven met in his dream was, sorry. There's more than one candidate, as you'll find out in this chapter. And those of you who thought it was Minus, he's not the only one in the world with ruby red eyes. There are a lot. In my 10th Anniversary Pokedex there are sometimes three or four red eyed Pokemon to a page. It's a popular eye color. There's just as many in the DP Pokedex, too. And I'm introducing a lot more ruby eyed Pokemon. You're just gonna have to wait and see who it is. XD It will be revealed near the end of stage one. (This is only the first stage, and there will be a sequel for sure, called stage two. Not sure if there will be a stage three yet.) Enjoy!_

**Chapter 10: Battles**

"Alright. You're all old enough to begin battling now," Ebonum announces one morning. Ven, Caremell, and Veecy crowd around him firing questions at him left and right. Lavendeau does her best to calm the excited pups down. They've all grown much since their birth, each well on their way to becoming beautiful full grown Eevee. Ven's odd mark is still apparent, but his parents don't notice it anymore. It's just a mark now. Nothing special. Just like their son.

Ebonum might have told Ven what his name meant, had he shown further signs of difference, but since he lost his eyesight he's acted bellow average. His father knows it's too late to correct his mistake now, because it might pose questions from his son. He doesn't want to hurt the Eevee's pride anymore.

"Today we're going to learn the attack Tackle," he continues. "Now, I don't expect you to get it perfectly right on your very first try, so don't be discouraged if you don't. To use this attack, it works best if you charge your target first. You'll like that Veecy."

The treacherous Eevee straightens in pride. She robbed Caremell's reputation for running the same day she stole Ven's eyesight. Caremell stares at her sister sadly. Ven looks at his paws blankly. He wishes he could hear a word of praise from his parents just once, but he's sure this will one more contest he can't win.

Ebonum centers out Veecy as the first to try.

"Now, dear, follow my lead."

The Umbreon takes off to strike a nearby tree. His form is perfect, and he hits the trunk straight on. He causes the oak to shake, and its leaves twirl to the ground. He nods to his daughter.

Veecy charges the tree, leaps, and barely scratches the edge. She tumbles to the ground and rolls head over paws several times before thumping against the base of a neighboring elm. Embarrassed, Veecy rolls over and shakes the leaves out of her fur. She trots back to Ven and Caremell with her head lowered.

"It's okay, dear," Lavendeau croons, "we've had pups before who missed that oak altogether. You did very well."

"Next!" Ebonum calls. Caremell hesitates. She glances at Ven, who motions towards Ebonum. Caremell nods. She pads up to her father, and he demonstrates the attack again for her. Nervously, she runs up to the roots. Just as she's about to leap, she shies and stops.

"What are you waiting for?" Ebonum says. "You won't get hurt."

Caremell circles around and Tackles the tree. Her form isn't as graceful as her father's, and only a couple of leaves are shaken from its boughs, but her attempt is considerably better than Veecy's.

"Good. Ven?"

Caremell shakily returns to her brother's side, and whispers words of encouragement to him.

"It's not so bad. I got scared at first because I thought it would hurt to tackle it like that, but if you do it right, it doesn't hurt at all. It's actually kinda fun. Like running."

Ven stays silent.

"Ven?" Ebonum repeats. "You try."

The Eevee mumbles something in reply that Caremell can't even catch.

"What?" Caremell's ears perk up.

"I . . . said . . . no!"

She jumps back and Ebonum rushes toward him.

"It's part of your early training to do this, and if you don't you'll be a failure as my son and as an Eevee. Tackle the tree!" he snarls. Caremell retreats further, but Veecy stands her ground, smirking.

Ven glowers down at his paws for a few seconds longer, and then steps forward.

"Fine."

He stands there for a while, concentrating. His family stares at him expectantly. Just as Ebonum is about to yell at him again, Ven takes off. He bears down on that tree with all the pain, all the sorrow, and all the beauty the first weeks of his life have brought him. He pours everything into that run, and, inches away from it's roots, launches himself into the tree. Everything moves so fast after this that no one's too sure what happens. There's a rumbling sound, a crack, the trembling of leaves, a cry of pain, and then all is still. All is still, that is, except for the shower of leaves raining down on them.

At last they clear to reveal felled branches and Ven limping away from the tree bitterly. He hurt one of his forepaws when he charged the tree, but it wasn't wasted. Ven hit the tree so hard it actually moved. As in, it's roots shifting underground. This caused it's branches to collide with that of those growing around it in peace for so long, and many of them cracked and fell.

Ven didn't use Tackle. He has completely surpassed that attack altogether. Ven's first attack was Take Down. Normal Eevee are supposed to learn that at level 43.

__________________________________________________________________

Later that night when their children are asleep, Ebonum has a talk with Lavendeau.

"That Ven . . . he did the impossible. I can't use Take Down like that, and he moved a full grown tree! He's barely a month old! He's never even attacked before, and it takes years of practice to use it like that."

"Well, maybe you didn't make a mistake when naming him."

"But . . . that's the first time he's ever acted odd!"

Lavendeau pauses for a moment before replying, "No."

"What?"

"Remember? He used to stare at things before his eye was hurt, and his hearing was late. We just assumed he was normal when those things stopped, but I really think it's because he's sad. The poor thing . . . he won't see well for the rest of his life. I'd be a little depressed, too, if I couldn't do the thing I loved most anymore."

"And what does he love most?"

"Can't you see it? Looking. He loves looking at the beauty in life, and he can only do that half as well now."

Ebonum stares up at the night. He hates to admit it, but he's never been great at noticing things like that. He can track down a Kecleon in a blizzard if he has to, but when it comes do identifying other Pokemon's emotions, he's terrible. He often has trouble decoding his own feelings, and if it wasn't for his special power, human's would be a complete mystery to him. There's many times he can't even tell what they want when he reads their thoughts just because of his small problem. He'd be lost without Lavendeau.

"I . . . suppose."

She chuckles. "You always are difficult at understanding others, even though you can read some minds. You just don't understand their motives."

Ebonum lets his ruby eyes flutter close. He walks out into the moonlight and lets it pour down on him. His golden glows with its radiance. When they can't get any brighter, he steps out of the moonlight and into the shadows.

"I need to go tonight. I've grown restless."

Lavendeau nods sadly. On full moons he always does this. It's the only way he can stay calm. He absorbs all the moonlight he can, and then runs off to Verdant Forest to let all his troubles out. No one ever visits the forest anymore. The trees are so dense that they block out all light day and night. Nothing even filters in through the gaps. This is partly thanks to Ebonum, who usually unleashes dark thoughts into the trees to wander around in their shadows. They cast more themselves.

He squeezes through a secret hole beneath the fence that he dug out long ago. It's concealed by the shrubs growing down part of the fence, and only he and Lavendeau know its exact whereabouts. As he comes through the other side, his eyes flick open. They're completely pitch black.

As the Umbreon rushes off into the night, a dark, shadowy mist seems to follow him. He's swallowed up in the shadows as he goes off to fight his battles.

_A/N: Okay, just so you know now, I might not be able to update next Saturday. I'll have to do this painting, and I'm not sure I'll be able to write, too. So just sit tight for a couple weeks, or check at the end of the day next week just in case. XD I made up Verdant Forest right when I was writing. I knew Ebonum was going to run off somewhere, but I really had no idea where. I just looked up green in the Thesaurus, picked the first word I saw, and stuck it in front of 'Forest!' XD Until a week or two, then._


	11. Kikyo Meets Wolveo

_A/N: Alright, here's Kikyo's next chapter. You find out what that 'chubby blue and cream Pokemon' is. And we get to find out a little bit about the human she meets, as well as the Pokemon. A little. More next chapter on that, this is just a glimpse of who these two are. Don't expect anything next weekend, because it'll be my birthday. (YAAAAAAAAY!) Not telling what I'm turning . . . ;3 Enjoy._

**Chapter 11: Kikyo meets Wolveo**

The shiny Shuppet awakens to find herself in a dim, enclosed place. It's dark except for the small, flickering tongues she's lying by. It's night, though she doesn't know the term or understand the concept. Kikyo's inside a cozy cabin on the mountain, and the tongues of light are flames. A human found her.

Slowly, she rises off the warm carpet. Her strength has returned, but just a bit. Someone has tried to help her. But she doesn't realize this. Kikyo does realize she's in a house, though she doesn't know this term either. She really doesn't know what anything is called. She can barely remember her own name, the name her mother gifted her with so quickly. Her mother. Kikyo feels herself drooping at this thought. Not that she's sure why. She's only sure of one thing. Kikyo doesn't want to be here. The walls terrify her, and make her feel imprisoned.

Kikyo becomes more alert as she shakes off her drowsiness, and begins swiveling around the room, desperate for a way out. She comes across a tall doorway, but it only leads down a corridor and she's too timid to investigate. She whirls and begins darting everywhere, throwing sparks around like confetti. Suddenly, Kikyo spies the outside. Her anticipation heightens as she makes a beeline for the way out. She cries out when she thumps against the window and sails to the ground in a twinkling heap.

Movement can be heard from down the corridor. Kikyo falls silent and stiffens. The glitter falling from her body dims until they're nothing but whispers of light. Silence falls over the house for a moment, and then suddenly there are voices. Kikyo begins trembling. Her sparks are brighter, but still dim enough.

A Pokemon dashes into the room. Kikyo can only just make it out; her night vision isn't all that great at the moment. From what she can gather, it's the blue and white Pokemon from before. It first goes to the edge of the fireplace where she was lying before. Puzzled at her sudden disappearance, it scratches its head with its navy paw and turns to look at the rest of the room. It's eyes narrow. It's watching for her. Kikyo trembles harder.

"Wolveo!" a rough, young voice calls from the corridor, "Wolveo, what is it?"

"She's gone!" the Pokemon replies. The human doesn't seem to notice what he says.

"Wolveo? Will you see if that Shuppet's alright?"

The Pokemon apparently called Wolveo scans the room. He sniffs at the air and crosses the room to inspect the window. He barely misses Kikyo. His night vision is nearly as bad as a human's. After finding the glass still intact, the chubby Pokemon turns back to the interior. He tries to scan the room with little luck, and he hops off the sill. Wolveo crisscrosses the wood several times over without finding a trace of the Shuppet. He might find her if he's awake enough to think to check under the love seat his master decided to push up by the window last week, but it's late. Kikyo woke him up with her cry. His master was watching TV when she hit the window.

"Ugh! I'm tired, and this ridiculous search is only going to make me hungry again. I'm going back to–"

The Pokemon abruptly cuts off his sentence as a few of Kikyo's sparks drift by his nose. He draws his breath sharply and suddenly lets out three thunderous sneezes. Kikyo tears out from beneath the love seat and flies straight into the Pokemon, who yelps in surprise. Her body illuminates the room with glitter as she tries to dart away. The Pokemon scoots away into the wall where he stares from a safe distance. Eventually she calms down, and her body dims again as she drifts to the ground. Wolveo keeps his eyes glued to Kikyo, so that when this happens he still has her in his sights. He sneezes again, but it's a small one this time, and it doesn't seem to frighten the Shuppet. Wolveo decides to take a chance.

"Who are you?"

Kikyo shimmers and begins trembling. She whimpers.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Wolveo holds out a chubby paw. "I won't hurt you. I just sneezed, that's all. I'm harmless. At least, I wouldn't hurt you."

Kikyo finds it in herself to say, "Huh?" Her voice is sweet and light, like a small bell or a wind chime.

"It'll be okay."

She looks at him blankly. Wolveo sighs.

"Okay, listen, I'm Wolveo. I'm a Munchlax. Do you have a name?"

"Name?"

"Wolveo," Wolveo motions towards himself.

"Kikyo," the little Shuppet replies. The one thing she understands. The room suddenly becomes bright. Kikyo cries out and hides her face.

"Archie!" Wolveo cries. He shields his bleary eyes from the florescent lamp light.

"Is she okay?"

"Yes! Yes! Turn off the light! You can look at her in the morning!"

"Huh? The light bothering you, big guy?"

"Whaddya think?" Wolveo growls. Archie shrugs and flicks the light switch.

"I'll check up on her when it's light, then. Night Wolveo. You should really get to sleep."

Wolveo rubs his eyes vigorously. He can't stand Archie sometimes. He has no patience when he isn't understood. Humans drive him crazy. Wolveo can't see how other Pokemon bear it. They've been best friends since Archie first started out as a trainer four years ago, but even though they share a deep bond they just don't communicate through words well. It's really only emotions the two can sense in each other.

Wolveo sits up and sighs. He's six years old. Still a little young, but old enough. He should be a Snorlax by now, but he just never felt like evolving. And it didn't really matter to Archie, either. Of course, Wolveo should be taking in way more calories than he is, but food just doesn't interest him the way it does most Munchlax. He's more of a battler himself.

"Hey," Wolveo whispers, "Kikyo?"

Silence answers him. He approaches her small body with caution, only to find her peacefully asleep. He shrugs.

"Night, Sparks."

Wolveo curls up and falls asleep.

_A/N: So, there you have it. I'm taking the term shiny quite literally. And because of this Wolveo is going to call Kikyo 'Sparks' quite frequently in later chapters. XD Archie . . . he's an oblivious, lazy trainer, but good at heart. I'll reveal what their doing out in the middle of these mountains next chapter. Maybe. Check up in two weeks. I'll have something then. _


	12. Sparks

_A/N: Wow . . . I'm surprised I had time to do this. My weekend's been packed. Well, I couldn't really think of anything, so I just did the morning. A little bit about them. I'll think about their plans next week._

**Chapter 12: Sparks**

Kikyo's eyes flutter open. It's morning. Sleet pounds down on the roof. It's a day of silver and green once more.

The Shuppet sits up and looks around. The room doesn't scare her nearly as much as it did the night before, but it's size is still a bit intimidating. The gentle light filtering in through the window helps a lot.

"Wolveo?" Kikyo says. The Munchlax from the previous night is gone. She hovers over the spot she last saw him for a moment before plucking up enough courage to pass through the towering corridor to look for him. She repeats his name several times as she journeys through the cabin. There's no sign of anyone . . . until she reaches the kitchen. All the activity is in here.

Archie is making blueberry waffles, as well as a big mess. The batter is running all over the counter from the waffle iron, but as hard as he tries he just can't seem to mop it all up. Wolveo's paws are full enough, and he certainly can't help. Quite the multitasking Pokemon, the Munchlax squeezes orange juice, prepares tea, cuts up fruit for a salad, and periodically checks the biscuits in the oven. The kitchen is a warm place, probably one of the coziest places in the house. It doubles as a dinning room, and whenever a dish or drink is finished Wolveo or Archie runs around the counter and places it on the table.

Neither of them seem to notice her, so she drifts over to the table for a look around. She gasps. The table overlooks an entire wall glass wall, showing the most breathtaking view of the mountains. The cabin is built right into the side of one of them. For a few moments, Kikyo forgets everything else.

"Hey."

She jumps up. Her amnesia is broken. Kikyo slowly turns to see Wolveo holding a pan of biscuits. She notices he's wearing an apron. It looks odd on him. Almost comical. Very comical to her. Kikyo giggles.

Wolveo turns red. "Hey, I just want to keep my fur clean. Got a problem with that?"

She falls silent and lands on the edge of the table. A cute little place setting sits in the middle of the table. Some flowers in a clear little vase on a copenhagen-blue cloth.

"How are you feeling, Sparks?"

Kikyo blinks a couple times before replying. "Um . . . okay."

She's not sure where these words are coming from. It's almost like some kind of second nature playing itself out. She suddenly feels a rush of joy.

"Morning," she suddenly exclaims. Kikyo darts off the table and flies around the room. Archie looks up from the waffle iron for a second, just now noticing the Shuppet. He forgets what he's doing for a second or two, but quickly remembers when the waffle begins smoking. Archie cries out and tries to get it out.

Kikyo giggles again. Daintily, she lands on the back of one of the chairs.

"Um . . . morning?"

She lets out a shriek of joy at his reply and dives at him. He falls off the table and launches his biscuits in the air. Wolveo looks up in horror as they arc and begin coming down. He leaps to his feet and holds up the tray to catch them, but Kikyo has other ideas. She flies around him giddily, making him dance this way and that trying not to get in her way while still catching the biscuits. In the end, all but one end up on the floor. He looks at the lone biscuit he caught on the tray blankly for a moment and holds out the tray.

"Biscuit?"

They both burst out laughing.

__________________________________________________________________

After cleaning up the mess in the kitchen and picking up all the biscuits, the three finally sit down for breakfast. Kikyo has a helping of everything, and she can't seem to keep away from the biscuits. She's devoured almost half.

"So, Wolveo," Archie laxly begins. He picks at a few small morsels on his plate. "What do you want to do today?"

"You've got to be kidding me . . . we had plans . . ." the Munchlax mutters.

"I know we had plans," Archie leans back, munching on a handful of cherries. Wolveo gives him a look. They usually aren't on this kind of wavelength. "But I think Sparks over here changed a few things. What do you think, big guy?"

Wolveo chokes on his cup of tea. What's the chance of his trainer of all people knowing what he's thinking? This is really starting to creep him out.

"Hey, that sounds pretty good. Sparks. You like that, girl?"

Kikyo, suddenly aware they're talking about her, looks up.

"Huh?"

"He want's to call you Sparks, Sparks."

"But I'm Kikyo."

"Yea, but he doesn't know that."

"Can't you tell him?"

"I can tell him, but he won't understand."

"Why?"

"Why?" Wolveo's baffled by her question. He's never really wondered why. It's just the way things are. "Well . . . he's a human. Humans just can't understand the Pokemon language. Most humans at least. Communication is more on an emotional level at best. I'm surprised he even guessed what I nicknamed you . . ."

"I guess you think alike. You've known each other for a while, haven't you?"

"Yea . . . I guess . . ." Wolveo trails off.

"Girl?" Archie repeats. Kikyo shyly looks at him. "How does Sparks sound?"

She doesn't reply. What she really wants is to be called by the name her mother gave her. But she can't have that.

"It's okay, Kikyo," Wolveo comforts her. "Your parents at least gave you a name."

"Well . . . my mother did."

"Oh. What happened to her?"

Kikyo falls silent. Perhaps she'd rather be called Sparks, after all.

_A/N: I have an idea of what they are. They're some kind of rangers. Not quite sure how to explain it yet. Hopefully I won't be distracted next week._


	13. The Silver Mountains

_A/N: Okay, okay, so I know it's short. But I did keep my promise. It explains what Archie and Wolveo do for a living. And it tells you what they do in their free time. XD I love rainy and dreary weather, so that's probably why I decided for Kikyo's childhood haven to be here. And all my favorite parts of the story will be on overcast, cloudy, drizzly, misty, thundery, or rainy days. XD Sorry for those of you who like it sunny. The series gets sad anyway. Whoops . . . sorta spoiler . . ._

**Chapter 13: The Silver Mountains**

Kikyo soon finds out the mountains here are always shrouded in mist and rain. Of course, she has never actually seen any other weather, except for a few fleeting glances of it on the TV, but Wolveo tells her that the weather differs in other parts of the world.

Wolveo, Archie, and Kikyo stay home for about a week so she can fully recover. Her energy is restored by the third day resting, but Wolveo and Archie seem to want to have an excuse to stay home. In this period of time, all they seem to want to do is play video games against each other. Wolveo's scores top off the high score list on just about everything, except for one particular game that requires the players to dance. He can't move his feet fast enough for that. Were he human, however, he'd definitely rule that game, too.

Anyway, once the week passes, Wolveo and Archie reluctantly agree (after an entire morning of trying to send messages back and forth to each other) that they need to return to their work. The next morning they wake early, scrape together a few lightweight supplies, and journey out into the light rain with Kikyo. After a week of treating her like one of them, it becomes clear that Archie plans to keep her. Which is perfectly fine with Kikyo. They seem like protection enough from her father, if he does happen to find her again.

As Archie and Wolveo make their way through the mountain forest, they check around the path. Archie looks mostly higher up, sometimes climbing up into the trees if they become to thick to see through, while Wolveo scrounges close to the ground. He checks every bush and shrub. Both seem to be searching for something; or someone. Kikyo drifts awkwardly behind, unsure what to do. After a half hour of this she shyly approaches Wolveo.

"What are you two doing?" Her vocabulary has improved drastically over the course of one week. Most Pokemon are the same.

"Ranging. Archie's a ranger by trade, but not your typical one. He doesn't use the capture stylus, which most people associate with rangers, and we stick to The Silver Mountains only, along with a few others who help patrol the parts unaccessible to us. We're the ground rangers on this part of the range. There are air and water rangers, too. Everyone usually just checks around for lost travelers, injured Pokemon, and such."

"If you're ground rangers, how come he's going up in those trees?"

"We don't have any tree rangers in this part of the mountain range, so we have to split the work with our air ranger," Wolveo explains.

Kikyo pauses for a moment. "What's unusual to find?"

"Well, . . . occasionally we catch thieves trying to escape through the mountain range. It's the best escape route, if you can get through without meeting one of us. Rarely we miss them," Wolveo adds proudly.

"What do you usually do with injured Pokemon? What you did with me?"

"No . . . after we nurse it back to health, Archie usually tries to return it to it's habitat. He may have a poor connection with Pokemon, but he knows their habitats better than the back of his hand."

"Why didn't he return me home?" Kikyo reluctantly ventures.

"Shuppet don't live around here. Anywhere. The nearest habitat is miles away."

This comes to Kikyo as a shock. She's positive she was born in these mountains. Apparently, her parents came here to hatch her, for whatever odd reason. This puzzles her. The biggest question is, why? Were they running from something?

"You okay, Sparks?" Wolveo asks when she doesn't say anything. She shakes herself out of her thoughts.

"Sure. Yea."

Wolveo shrugs and pulls aside a branch that's diverting his view of the rest of the mountain range. He suddenly leaps backward and lets out a yelp of surprise.

"Archie!" Wolveo cries. "Archie! Come quick!"

_A/N: Mwahahaha . . . Cliiiiiff Haaaaangeeer! XD Sorry . . . the cliff hanger is the reason it's so short. You'll find out what Wolveo's screaming about in a week. See ya next week, then! XD_


	14. Heated Battle

_A/N: Well, you all are really lucky. I read an inspiring fanfic yesterday evening and suddenly got the urge to write something equally as good. Instead I wrote this. XD I put a little more heart into it than I usually do, but I doubt it compares to what I read. I highly doubt. There's another cliffhanger, but I might be able to update more on Monday if I'm still feeling 'inspired.' If not, you learn a little more about the story and we all go back to updates on Saturdays._

**Chapter 14: Heated Battle**

"Huh?" Archie answers his friend sheepishly. He peaks over the bough of the pine he's perched in. "A Wurmple scare you or something?"

"You idiot!" Wolveo stumbles back a few more steps and assumes a fighting pose. At least, what qualifies in the Munchlax standard as a fighting pose. Really all he's doing as far as posing is leaning forward a few more centimeters than usual and slightly bending his chubby arms. The only thing that depicts the nature of his pose is the determined glare on his round face. He really looks quite comical. Of course, Munchlax usual do no matter what they're going for.

"W-wolveo?" Kikyo stammers. The atmosphere has changed. Archie finally seems to notice something is amiss.

"Hey, buddy, something wrong down there?" He loosens his grip on limb he's clinging to, and drops from the tree. Unfortunately, he puts a slight swing into his release and ends up landing right beside the bush Wolveo had been recoiling from.

Archie has no time to react. Liquid black swipes at his face, leaving gashes on his cheek. He staggers backward and blinks in surprise as the scarlet streams run down his face. The ranger's blunder is short lived. He scrambles back to Wolveo and Kikyo and wipes the blood off his cheek with his sleeve.

"Okay, I know you're there!" Archie calls. The liquid black Pokemon charges from the bushes, herding the small group back a few more yards. Someone whistles and the Houndoom falls back, snarling menacingly. One of his horns are missing. The silver rungs encircling the creature's paws and the crescents on his back are chipped from many hard-fought battles. The Houndoom's tail flicks back and forth in anticipation.

"Yea, I'm in here. Heel, Vlad." A ragged looking man steps out of the shrub. He's shouldering a sack and pointing a pistol at Archie. Archie freezes up.

"Man . . . why don't they issue us firearms for this job?" Archie swears under his breath. Wolveo holds his ground.

"Come on . . . lets take 'em," Wolveo begs. He wishes desperately that he could speak to his friend. The Munchlax always does, but it's in situations like this that his annoying inconveniences morph into terrifying disadvantages.

"Take us?" The Houndoom's cool voice sweeps over the Pokemon like a light breeze drifting their way from the fringes of a tornado; seemingly suave from where they are, but from a deadly source. "I'd love a challenge, but I don't think a flabby Munchlax and a newborn Shuppet will give me much of one. Even if you're a little shy of my age," he nods at Wolveo, "or exotically colored," he gestures toward Kikyo.

Wolveo just smirks. "You're on."

They wait for the humans to finish their formalities. It doesn't take long.

"I'm guessing you're not carrying hiking supplies in that sack."

"A few rare odds and ends."

"Stolen valuables, you mean."

The thief shrugs and swings his gun around laxly. "Call them what you like."

It's apparent the man has had a few drinks before coming, by the way he throws his body around in an out of sync way. He has a slight accent, and it appears that he hasn't shaved in several days.

"Well, you can consider yourself caught, now," Archie says boldly.

"Who's the one with the pistol and the Hound from Hell? That's right. I could just kill you both now and take your glittering little friend as a bonus, but I think we could do with a little sport first. Go Vlad!"

Vlad springs forward and tackles Wolveo. The Munchlax struggles under his massive form.

"Thunderpunch!" Archie orders. Wolveo uppercuts the Houndoom squarely in the maw with his supercharged fist and sends him flying backward. The boundaries of the battlefield are clearer now. Things begin to heat up. Literally.

"Flamethrower, Vlad!"

A burning inferno pours from the Houndoom's mouth. It hits Wolveo head on, but he shakes it off like nothing.

"Idiot," Archie calls, "it's too moist for that attack to do much good! And you're also neglecting to calculate in Wolveo's Thick Fat!"

The earth around them starts steaming. Vlad shakes his devilish head and retreats a little ways back.

"Don't let it rattle you, Vlad! Iron Tail!"

Vlad comes around skirting the edge of the trees, tail shimmering all the way, and whips it around into Wolveo's face. He yelps and tries to counter with a poorly charged Focus Punch, but the shock of the blow makes him flinch.

"Body Slam when it comes around again!" Archie yells. He's breaking into a cold sweat. If anything happens to Wolveo, they're all good as dead. Never has he been good under this kind of pressure. Archie begins shaking when Wolveo takes another hit and misses again.

"Metronome!"

Wolveo swears under his heavy breath and begins twitching his arms back and forth. "Why can't you command something useful? This attack is the biggest gamble ever!"

He clumsily dodges Vlad's Bite, and releases his attack. For a second, it seems like the attack fails. Suddenly Wolveo's body begins morphing, his body becoming slimmer, more nimble. His fur darkens and shortens, and a horn grows out of his head. Plates form on his back and he grows a slim, whiplike tail. Now there are two Houndoom on the field. Wolveo growls and shakes his head.

"Great thinking, Cynthia," he snarls at Archie. For once he picks up that Wolveo is insulting him. "Now I have no clue how to use my attacks!" The words barely escape his mouth when the Houndoom fires a Sludge Bomb at him. "Oh, CRAP!" Wolveo yells. He scrambles to get his legs to work, but he's not used to his temporary body. At the last second he ends up diving at the ground and rolling out of the way to avoid the shelling of poison. He has to avoid poisoning at all costs. Their lives are on the line. At least, his and Archie's are. For Kikyo, it's her freedom.

This sparks determination in him. Wolveo launches a Sludge Bomb of his own, but it's pretty lousy compared to the one Vlad fired. He's picked Transform from the luck of the draw before, and he knows from experience he's bad at the temporary attacks, but if he can hit, he might be able to poison Vlad. He lowers his head in defeat when he realizes he overshot his attack.

Kikyo's startled cry causes his head to come back up. Wolveo can't hide his surprise when he sees his attack actually hit, instead of just spilling onto the ground and forming a giant toxic puddle. Cocky Vlad slipped up and swaggered across the field right as the sludge began raining down. He hasn't been paying enough attention to his opponents attacks. As expected, the move does barely any damage. As unexpected, it poisons his foe. Wolveo can only gape at his pure luck.

"ARG!" Vlad snarls. He drops to the ground and begins writhing in pain. The poison isn't even that bad. The Pokemon just wants to make it seem worse than it really is.

"Alright, Wolveo!" Archie manages to cheer. He's still scared to death that something will go wrong, but it seems like they're going to win. Until the man steadies his hand and cocks his pistol– which is pointing at Wolveo.

"You're going to pay for that," he snarls. Kikyo isn't sure exactly what he's pointing at Wolveo, but she's sure it can't be good.

"Wolveo!" she screams.

"Wolveo, look out!" Archie cries desperately. If his Pokemon gets shot, it's over.

The Houndoom transformed Munchlax darts out of the way just in time, a little more used to his limber body. The shot rings out over the mountainside, but the bullet digs into the base of an unlucky pine. Wolveo's unharmed. For now.

The man cocks his pistol again.

Wolveo, Archie thinks, I can't say this aloud . . . or it'll be ruined. Please, please do this . . .

He fires.

_A/N: Yea, so see? All of you complaining for me to write more? This is what you get- another cliffhanger. XD As I said waaaaaaaay up there, (Man, I haven't written anything long in a while . . . or even close to long . . .) I might update some more tomorrow. I also might update later today, but I have to do homework, so it's unlikely. But if I finish it all today I'll have all the time in the world to write tomorrow. Heck, I might write ya a novel. Who knows. (Actually, the way I've planned it it's going to end up as a novel anyway. Just look at how long the childhoods are!) Well, G2G. _

_I wiiiiiiiiiish it waaaaas Autumn agaaaaaaain . . ._


	15. The Real Houndoom

_A/N: I'm glad Wolveo's been so popular with everyone. I think he's a really good character. I finally get to write about Minus again! And I wrapped up this little adventure pretty well without any cliffhangers. For once. XD Well, I don't really like summer weather, but I don't mind not having school! I'll probably be able to update more on weekdays now, but in case you're not sure you can just check on Saturdays. Or if you're really hooked, everyday. I'll try to email the people I've got contacts with whenever I update. How's that sound? Well, here's what happens to Wolveo . . ._

**Chapter 15: The Real Houndoom**

Wolveo has a split second to dodge the lighting fast bullet and tackle Vlad. The two roll around in the mud clawing, snarling, snapping, and slashing at each other. Occasional yelps are herd from the tangled mess, but neither Archie or the thief can tell whose cries they are. It's impossible to tell if it's the blows or the poison making them howl. It's also impossible to tell them apart anymore.

The thief growls and lowers his pistol. He can't afford to risk hitting his own Houndoom. This is exactly what Archie wants. The ranger almost falls over, he's so relieved. Archie can hardly believe it. Either a link is finally starting to form between the two after all these years, or they're both just incredibly lucky. He watches the struggle for a few seconds and starts cheering.

"Yes! Go Wolveo!"

Kikyo sees him celebrating and joins in, her voice like wind chimes.

A particularly loud yelp is suddenly heard, and the brawl is split. One crouches, ready to pounce on the other, who whines and shudders in pain. The crouching Houndoom smirks and slinks closer to the one who has fallen. The fallen Houndoom tries to get away, but all it can do is claw at the ground lamely.

"Vlad!" the man yells in shock. He raises his pistol again.

"NO!" Archie bawls, "Please don't! It isn't fair!"

"Who ever said I would fight fair? All I said was that I wanted Vlad to see some sport. He's seen it. This ends now."

Before Archie can say or do anything to protest, he aims and fires. The Houndoom collapses in mid-lunge. For a moment, everything is still. Glinting tears form in the corners of Archie's eyes. Kikyo appears to be emotionless. The two Houndoom are still. Then suddenly, one rises, the one unharmed by the pistol. It swaggers over to the man wielding it and lingers by his side for a second, almost nervously. Suddenly the Pokemon lunges at the thief and swipes the pistol from his relaxed, unsuspecting grip. The Pokemon leaves the man on his back in the mud and scampers back to his master's side of the field, clumsily. It's almost like he's trying to waddle.

Wolveo hasn't quite got the hang of everything.

"Wolveo!" Archie jaw drops as he watches his Pokemon stumble over to his side and spit the weapon into the damp soil. "I thought you . . . I mean . . . I didn't realize you were acting . . ."

"Come on, I'm not that dumb, Archie. I wasn't just gonna make myself vulnerable like that acting like I owned the field," Wolveo sighs. Wolveo is relatively okay, save a few cuts here and there, but he's breathing heavily from overexerting himself. Kikyo grins and hovers over to his side.

"I knew you wouldn't get hurt," she giggles.

"Thanks, Sparks," he manages a tired smile.

"Hey," Archie places a hand on his furry black head and looks at the real Houndoom. He lets out a sigh of pity. "You think he killed him?"

Wolveo looks up at his friend and cocks his head.

"Like I know? It was all I could do to get that stupid gun away. I don't know if he killed him or not."

For a fleeting second Archie seems to understand what Wolveo says, but it slips past too quickly to tell.

"Hey, check your dog," Archie calls out to the trembling thief. The man hesitates at first, cowering in terror, but at last he approaches his dog. He doesn't dare try to run. He has yet to realize how awkward Wolveo is at running, and the man still thinks the Munchlax has fully acquired Vlad's power.

"Vlad?" he says nervously. Nothing. "Vlad, boy?"

The man outstretches a shaky hand to his partner in crime. Vlad's eyes suddenly snap open, and he tries to attack his master. The man cringes and tries to get away, but he soon realizes his Houndoom isn't going anywhere fast. The bullet burrowed into his hind flank.

"Well?" Archie questions. The ranger straightens and gives him a bold look.

"He'll live . . . if he doesn't lose too much blood. I got his thigh."

"Good."

Vlad struggles to get to his feet, growling and snapping at the mud. "You'll pay for this, plagiarist."

Wolveo trots over to his side, or rather, approaches the Houndoom's side with what passes as a trot in Wolveo's standards, and looks at him in amusement.

"Plagiarist? I've never heard that one before. That would make a good title, only, my chances of getting Transform from using Metronome aren't that great. Sorry." Wolveo puts on a crooked smile and pads awkwardly off. Vlad grimaces and glares as he returns to his master's side. A helicopter's wings can be heard in the distance.

"Wolveo, signal!" Archie suddenly commands. Wolveo stands there awkwardly for a moment, trying to decide what to do, when he finally fires a Flamethrower into the pure white sky. He's careful not to torch the surrounding tree limbs, even though he would barely singe them considering his current firepower and the weather.

The sound of thrumming helicopter wings increases in volume until Wolveo finally has to stop signaling to avoid hitting it. It hovers around the area for a while, until it finally finds a nearby clearing to land in.

"Wolveo, watch those two." Archie disassembles the pistol and darts away with it to meet the people in the helicopter. He comes back moments later with a couple of police officers and another girl. A Pigeot lands nearby and begins preening it's majestic feathers.

"Jonathan Hastings, you're under arrest for theft and attempted murder," a policewoman states in an official sounding voice. Her gaze is cold and hawklike, but she has an air of justice about her.

"Thanks, Jessica," Archie says gratefully. He opens his mouth to say something more to her, when the girl who came with them interrupts.

"Oh, and no thanks for the one who heard those gun shots in the first place, Archie?" she grabs his arm to stop him. The officers pretend not to notice and go about their business with Jonathan.

"Um, I was just about to thank you, Rachael," Archie chuckles uneasily. The Pigeot coos disapprovingly to his poor coverup and lands next to Wolveo.

"You really need to work with your ranger on his social manners," she remarks.

"Ha ha. I'll have fun with that. I can barely get him to understand when the TV's too loud."

"So what's with the getup? You missed Halloween by a couple of months."

"Archie's idea. Metronome."

"Ah, that explains it. Well, it does suit your name better."

"You know, I was thinking the same thing."

Kikyo watches them converse with anxiety. It took a week for her to become comfortable around Wolveo and Archie, and all these people and Pokemon have suddenly come charging into her life without warning. She hovers back, wide-eyed and worried.

"Who's this?" the Pigeot finally seems to notice Kikyo.

"Ah," Wolveo turns and gestures for her to come closer. "This is Kikyo. We call her Sparks."

"Hello, Sparks."

"Sparks, this is Aeren."

"Hi . . . Aeren."

"We found her a week ago, and we took her in. She was doing really bad."

"Oh, so that's why you weren't on patrol."

Wolveo doesn't say anything. He just nods, hoping she won't notice the hint of sheepishness in his eyes.

"Well, you came back just in time. I doubt Rachael and I would've found him. He was staying too well hidden. That's always the problem with our patrol," Aeren sighs and preens her feathers a little. "It's the fastest traveling patrol, but everyone knows to watch for us so we hardly ever catch anyone. Unless they're being extremely clumsy."

"It is true that you cover more ground than us, though."

"Yes, but how much do we actually cover? I'm pretty sure we're easy to hide from. It's not like we can stop and check every rustling tree on our flights. It's your job. Our job is much broader than yours. We only would've spotted him if he'd met up with somebody else, that's for sure."

Wolveo shrugs. Aeren turns back to Rachael. She and Archie are talking to each other. Rachael makes a remark they don't catch and Archie blushes. He mumbles something in reply and they burst out laughing.

"You know they like each other," Aeren suddenly says.

"I know."

"You also know what it's going to lead to in a few years."

"Undoubtedly," Wolveo's head droops. "I just hope they don't . . . decide not to work anymore. Or . . . you know . . ." Wolveo starts getting choked up. He growls and shakes his head.

"Me neither."

Wolveo recovers his voice. "They'd better not get rid of us."

Kikyo listens to this with uncertainty. She has never given a thought to living without Archie. Or Wolveo, for that matter. What will happen if they suddenly decide to get rid of her? Or if they get separated? She shudders at the thought and tries to think of something else.

"Hey," Aeren breaks the silence, "aren't Shuppet supposed to be more of a . . . lavenderish color? I mean, it may be just me, but she looks teal."

"She is. I think she's a shiny."

"Well, that's something interesting. I've never seen one before."

Archie and Rachael finally wrap up their flirting, and Rachael calls Aeren over.

"Come on, gorgeous. Time to finish patrol."

Aeren flies to her ranger's side and lets Rachael mount. A fluttering of wings, a breeze, a sheet of mist on their faces, and they're gone. The police hauled off Jonathan Hastings and Vlad a while ago when everyone was talking.

"Back to work," Archie announces. Kikyo lands on his back and Wolveo struts off behind him. After a little bit, Archie glances back at his Pokemon.

"Uh . . . Wolveo? You going to turn back anytime soon?"

"You kidding? I'm getting the hang of this!"

Archie looks at him expectantly a little longer, then finally gives up. "Have it your way, I guess. Don't think you'll like the thunderstorm in the forecast, though."

"I'll turn back when we get there. I'm enjoying being tall and skinny, for once. Even if I can't walk right."

Archie leaves him alone after this.

"Hey," Kikyo pipes up after they finish, "Why does everyone keep asking about that?"

"About me being a Houndoom?"

"No, about my color. I don't get it. What's so special about it?"

Wolveo sighs. "Well, you see, most Shuppet . . . most Shuppet aren't that color. It's kind of rare, and humans and some Pokemon are obsessed with rare things."

"Rare?"

"Like treasure and jewels and stuff. And different colored Pokemon. They're just out of the ordinary things."

"What are most Shuppet colored?"

"Um . . . it's kind of like a dark lavender."

"What did Aeren call me earlier?"

"Sparks?"

"No, wasn't it shiny or something?"

"Oh, shiny. That's what different colored Pokemon are called."

"Why? It's just a different color."

"Yea, well, shiny Pokemon tend to be sparkly like you are. And they also have been known to glow. No one knows quite why."

Kikyo falls silent. That makes everything sound even scarier. She doesn't want to be sought after like treasure. She just wants to stay with Wolveo and Archie like this forever without any problems. Or at least, big problems. She doesn't mind their, as long as no one else starts wanting her because of her color.

A few minutes after Kikyo stops asking questions, thunderclouds roll in, darkening the white to grey. The raindrops begin pounding, and after trying to endure it for a half hour, Wolveo is finally forced to turn back into a Munchlax. He sighs when he resumes his old body.

"Man, just when I was getting the hang of it."

Archie laughs. Maybe they really are starting to understand each other better.

Later that night after they get home, Kikyo drifts into the kitchen to tell Wolveo about an open window she discovered, only to find him trying to run around on all fours like a Houndoom. She watches him take down imaginary foes with sharp fangs and razor-like claws instead of rattling punches and heavy body slams. She giggles and goes off to find Archie instead.

_A/N: Yay, a cute little ending, and no killed off characters yet. YET. Don't get used to everyone living. Another reason I changed the rating a while back. And there was the first gun involved in this Kikyo episode. There will be many more after the childhoods, so be prepared. And as I said before, I'll be writing about Minus next time. Yes. I love him . . . just stating my own opinion, he's one of my favorite characters. Wolveo's second. Ven and Kikyo come next. There's just a lot of characters for people to choose from . . . anyway, for all you Case Closed fans out there, I might start up a Case Closed fanfic soon! Just . . . not staring Conan. Or any of the other original characters, for that matter. XD I always have a problem with doing that. Hence PAC! XD It'd be a summer only deal, and it would be a brand new cast of characters, similar plot, with all the things I think should happen in the series. _

_Anyway, type to you later. Hope you're happy, all you people who hate my beautiful cliffhangers. XD_


	16. Plus and Minus

_A/N: Well, here it is, folks! We're back with Minus. The chapter's somewhat short with another cliffhanger, (like that's new, right?) but I still really like it. Even if it's too simple for you. XD I just love it when Hikari and Minus meet for the first time . . . it's so cute! (Sorry for those of you out there who don't like 'cute.') I suggest rereading 'The Garden,' or at least skimming over it so you remember everything. I've written a lot between then and now, and it's just been a while. Even I had to reread it to write this. Heck, I had to reread all of Minus's chapters to write this! I couldn't remember everything I'd put. XD Enjoy. _

**Chapter 16: Plus and Minus**

Minus can only stare at his positive in shock. He never expected this. He's not quite sure that Hikari expected this meeting either. She stares at him with equal surprise.

"You–"

"Wh–"

"I–"

"Who–"

"Um–"

"It . . . uh–"

"You see–"

The two Pokemon stutter and cut into each other's words. They suddenly fall silent. They just . . . stare.

Minus tries to shake his surprise and manages to clear his throat.

"Um . . . what are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same thing. I didn't even know you were born yet!" Hikari's voice is young and clear. Her ears hang lopsided, in a familiar way; the right one straight as an arrow and left cocked. Her fur is, of course, almost completely white, but not all pure white. In fact, the only pure white fur on her is on her chest where a normal Lucario's fur would be yellow. Where it would be normally be dark blue, it's an extremely light shade of the color, and where it would be black her fur is an ashy shade of white.

Minus raises an eyebrow as his eyes meet hers. They aren't the usual ruby red. Instead, her sparkling eyes are blue.

"They told me I'd never meet you."

"And who said that?" Hikari demands playfully. Minus just shrugs. He's not quite sure what's going on, but he has a hunch that Edwin has something to do with it. And that Heimen doesn't know.

"Never mind."

"So . . . what was your name again?"

"I'm Minus."

"Hikari."

"Yea. Yea, I know."

"So . . . they told you about me."

"Yea. They also guaranteed that I'd never meet you."

"Well. I guess they were wrong."

They suddenly fall into an awkward silence. Minus shifts his weight uneasily from his right foot to his left. There's something about her . . . something about her that makes him feel different than he has before. One more thing he can't put his paw on.

"Why'd you come here?"

"To do some training. Haku always tries to take me out here at least once a week."

"Haku? Here? What's here to train against?"

Hikari laughs. Her voice is even younger sounding when she does that.

"Haku's my trainer, silly. And here is as in this dome. Trainers bring their Pokemon here all the time and let them loose to train on their own against other trainer's Pokemon."

"Oh. I think everybody's gone."

"Well, you're here, aren't you?"

Minus hesitates. It is true. His thoughts wander back to the previous day, when Professor Heimen told him to forget about Hikari. He also said that trainers would constantly be coming in and out so he could battle against them. Minus doesn't see any harm in battling his positive.

"Yea. Yea, let's go."

Hikari doesn't hesitate. She comes right at him with a swift jab that Minus barely manages to dodge.

"Oh, yea, one more thing, Minus. I won't hold back." Hikari shoots him a lopsided grin and whisks his feet into the air with Low Kick.

He hits the ground hard and the wind is knocked out of him, but Minus is back on his feet in an instant. He counters her next Low Kick with an Iron Tail. She winces for a second when she takes the hit, but it does very little damage. Hikari fires an Aura Sphere at Minus, but he leaps out of the way just in time. He lands in an exotic tree and copies her. She's fast, but the attack still catches her in the hind paw and sends her spiraling through the air. Hikari lands close to the ground on her good foot, and she has to balance herself with her front paws and tail.

Minus smirks. "Then neither will I."

Something sparks in Hikari's eyes as she returns his smirk. Then she leaps off the ground and goes flying through the air. Their scrimmage has begun.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Professor Heimen sits in the Observing Room, casually sipping his tea. He nonchalantly scans the monitors mounted on the walls. Everything is normal. Just the way it should be. The professor leans back in his swivel chair and closes his eyes.

"Everything is going perfectly . . ." he mutters to himself. Heimen takes another sip of tea. He opens an eye to double check where the Experiment is and almost chokes himself. He shakily sets the cup on the tea table beside his chair and coughs until his throat is clear. He wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve and glances back at the screen. Nothing.

"Heh, must've been imagining . . ." Heimen does a double take. Two flashes of color suddenly light up another screen. Something unusual.

"Computer, display screens forty-one through fifty-five on the center screen."

The input from the dome cameras begin playing at triple their original size. All the other activities showing around him dim. For a second, all is still. Only a couple of dog Pokemon are in view, and they're lounging at the base of a thick old tree. And then everything bursts to life. Heimen watches as two figures, one light, the other dark, battle each other out in the dome. The light one moves with grace and speed, while the dark one goes at her with flexibility and power. Heimen might consider it beautiful if their identities remain unknown, but he already knows who both of them are. Minus and Hikari. He was meaning to keep them apart, but now it's too late. They've met. They will be practically inseparable now.

"Damn . . ." he growls. Professor Heimen pounds his fist on the tea table, causing waves to ripple across his tea.

"Get him on line . . ." Heimen stops short. Does he really want to tell him about this?

"Yes, Professor?" the computer says in a female, electronic voice.

"Never mind."

"Of course Professor."

"Never mind at all."

It's time Professor Heimen takes a few of these things in his own hands.

_A/N: Like I said, cliffhanger. At least it's not as bad as the ones before! XD No one's life is on the line in this . . . *coughyetcough* ahem . . . anyhow, till later I guess._

_Oh, yea. There have been a few things I've been meaning to say, so don't go away yet! I finally fixed that lowercase 'one' in the title of the series that I've been meaning to capitalize for months, for starters. And I'm still taking OC's, just a reminder. Not that I have a big shortage of em or anything. XD Speaking of that, here's a big thanks to everyone who has submitted. They'll make it in here eventually, don't worry! XD I also wanna say that even though this series has barely made it out of the runway, I have already planned out the basic skeleton of the story until the end of 'stage one,' and I know a lot of what's going to happen in 'stage two.' No idea if I'm going to make a 'stage three,' though. XD I'm running out of places for the story to take place . . . but never mind what I just said about where it takes place. It probably won't matter for years. So, basically all the big events are planned out. I'm excited to be midway through the childhoods. Of course, if this runs to long I might have to make the childhoods into 'stage one,' and the main story into 'stage two!' XD But I probably won't, no matter how long. _

_That's all for now. –Autumnchronicles (wow, it feels good to finish like that! I think I'll do that more often)_


	17. Not Meant to Be

_A/N: Yay, another long one! I'm so sorry for not updating last weekend by the way. I got a last minute phone call Friday night and I ended up spending the entire weekend at my great aunt's. Well, it was worth the wait, I guess, cause here's another good one. I'm not sure if you'd call the ending a cliffhanger or not. You tell me. XD _

**Chapter 17: Not Meant to Be**

Minus leaps for a tree branch ten yards away and uses it to swing around and use an Iron Tail on the free-falling Hikari. His tail clashes with hers and the sound of metal on metal rings throughout the dome. They fence like this all the way to the ground, and there they begin a heated sword fight with Iron Tail. Neither of them are tiring. They could do this forever.

Suddenly, Hikari knocks down Minus's tail and it loses its iron charge. In a split second she's going straight for his legs again, but there's not enough time to recharge Iron Tail or leap out of the way. They're both surprised when a deathly sharp, metallic spike leaps out in front of his body and blocks her strike. Her Iron Tail loses its charge too.

"Wh . . ." Hikari breathes. Minus stares at the spike on the back of his paw. He somehow lengthened it to block her tail. Minus experiments with it and finds he can change its length by will. Judging by Hikari's look, it's definitely not a normal Lucario ability.

"How did you do that?" Hikari finally manages to say.

"Not sure. It's just like . . . I can control it with my mind, like the way you'd move an arm or a leg."

"Odd. I didn't know some Pokemon could do that."

"Well," Minus suggests as he returns the dagger-like spike to its normal size, "let's just continue. It doesn't really matter."

The Negative Lucario cuffs her playfully, and she fires an Aura Sphere a his face in return. He ducks out of the way easily and they resume their battle.

__________________________________________________________________

Khaz is the first to wake up when the sound of clashing metal starts ringing through the dome. For a second, he thinks someone's fencing. This hypothesis is discarded after he has a little more time to think it over. It's metallic alright, but it sounds softer than metal. Like Iron Tail maybe.

Khaz jerks upright. "Minus."

The Arcanine stares at the surrounding trees worriedly. He turns to his still sleeping partner.

"Lakota, wake up. Listen."

The Disaster Pokemon's blood-red eyes flick open, and he leaps off of the tree trunk. Lakota stands close to the ground, listening. The barrage of sound suddenly rings out even louder than before.

"The Experiment . . ." he trails off.

"Yes. That's what I thought too."

They stare at each other for a few seconds, then dart off into the trees after the noise. The dogs almost meet their destination, when suddenly a final clang reverberates through the trees, and a duller sound follows. The dome falls silent. Lakota and Khaz halt, listening. They hear nothing for a moment. Just a few muffled Pokemon cries from outside the dome. Suddenly, there are two voices. They're speaking too quietly for the dogs to make out the words, but the conversation doesn't last long anyway.

A sudden blast of energy shatters the quiet and the trees jump to life as two creatures start dueling in their boughs. Khaz looks up at the quivering trees to try to make out the two brawlers, but he can only seem to catch brief glimpses of them rocketing by. Lakota doesn't even bother to look up. He just checks his surroundings a little, weighs his odds, and starts charging up his attack.

Khaz notices and exclaims, "Lakota! What are you doing?"

"You want to get them down, don't you?"

"Yes, but that attack can be powerful! And not to mention dangerous."

Lakota glares back. "The chance of one of them being Minus is extremely high, since he just started to leave the dome this morning. It won't even leave a scratch on him. Just blow him out of that stupid tree. The chances of the other Pokemon being a steel type is fairly high, too, considering they were both using Iron Tail earlier."

"And what if it's not? Iron Tail can be learned by anything that has a tail and isn't a Magicarp." Khaz growls.

"Be patient Khaz, I'm not finished. The chance of the other Pokemon being a Lucario is also very high."

"What makes you think that?"

"All the attacks we can hear them using can be learned by Lucario. I've even heard Aura Spheres fired consecutively. Adding all these factors together, I think it'll be safe."

Before Khaz can say another word, the Disaster Pokemon rears up on his hind legs and throws his head around. Razor Wind. The sharp attack curves around the tree trunks and goes spiraling up the dome where it slams right on target. Two surprised cries are heard from above and Minus drops down from the canopy, followed by Hikari. Lakota smirks for a second, then lets his expression go blank.

Minus shakily rises to his feet. The sudden attack from the outside surprised him. Hikari looks a little stunned, too.

"Khaz," Minus pants, "Lakota, nice to see you."

Khaz raises an eyebrow and pads over to Hikari's side and sniffs her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Hikari," she answers. "I'm his Positive."

Khaz's eyes widen and Lakota assumes an expression of shock.

"Y-you?" Lakota breathes.

"That can't be . . ." Khaz whispers.

"What?" Hikari begins to look worried.

"What do you mean?" Minus laughs nervously. "Of course she's my Positive. Professor Heimen told me himself!"

"No," Lakota says glaringly, "she can't be your Positive and you can't be her Negative because you don't act opposite of each other. You aren't really . . ."

"Minus, there you are," a voice comes from behind him. Lakota jumps and whirls around to face the voice, only to fall silent.

"Lakota? What do you mean we aren't opposites? Lakota?" Minus says frantically. It's impossible to get the Absol to say another word. Heimen picks up right where Lakota left off.

"You aren't really a true Negative. It didn't mirror you perfectly as we'd hoped, but it makes you easier to manage."

"What?" Minus says weakly. "That's not what you told me–"

"Forget what I told you before," Heimen cuts him off sharply. "None of us wanted you meeting Hikari, but apparently someone messed up."

"What's wrong with meeting Hikari?" Minus demands. Hikari quivers fearfully. Even Khaz and Lakota seem scared. A very bad sign.

"Although you might not be a perfect Negative, you can still reach that level if provoked. You are designed to act opposite of your Positive. Meeting her can provoke you to act as you are designed. It's just not meant to be, Minus."

Minus's eyes suddenly darken. The ruby red is sapped from his irises and replaced with a black aura. He says, "No," in a dark voice, and the black aura fades away. He looks at Heimen as if nothing happened. His eyes are returned to normal.

"If it's not meant to be then it's too late. I've already met her. It doesn't matter anymore."

Professor Heimen looks furious. He's just about to stalk off, when Edwin Riles suddenly materializes beside him.

"You!" Heimen exclaims. He notices the curious stares of the Pokemon behind him and drags Edwin off to somewhere private. "You, this is your doing, isn't it?" he demands sharply.

Edwin smirks and shrugs. "Not at all. Haku just happened to drop off Hikari for the day, and I just happened to drop off Minus for the night. During the party, I mean. It was just a coincidence they happened to meet."

"We went over this, Riles," Professor Heimen glares and holds a finger up to the graying man's face. Edwin looks at the finger and back at Heimen. He raises an eyebrow. "Don't give me that look. You knew perfectly well they had to stay apart at all costs."

"It was just a hypothesis. It's not like anything happened."

"She's not to interfere with his training! This whole thing was carefully thought out only to be ruined by you!"

Edwin shrugs. "So?"

"I'm . . . I'm cutting your salary in half! From now on, keep them apart. If anything like this happens again, you're fired!"

Edwin looks amused.

"Well, just know that if you fire me Minus won't like it and he'll pry and ask you questions until your ear falls off. He probably won't listen to whoever you replace me with unless you tell him where and why I went, and then he'll hate you for it and still not listen."

"Just keep those two apart and we won't have any problems," Heimen growls. He stomps off, leaving Edwin alone.

Edwin stares through the greenery at Minus and Hikari who are involved in a deep conversation. Minus says something and Hikari laughs. Khaz smiles, and even Lakota manages a brief grin. Edwin Riles shakes his head.

"This might not work out after all. They were meant to meet, no doubt about it. I didn't have anything to do with it at all. The real truth is that they aren't meant to be together. They're meant to be lost and separated forever." Edwin sighs and begins to walk away. He pulls out his cellphone and dials Haku's number.

_A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know it's sad, but don't start crying yet. You'll need to save your tears for later. Anyway, I've decided to finish off Minus's childhood in one big block, and then Ven's, and finally Kikyo's. In other words I'm just going to write as many chapters as it takes after this about Minus until it's done. It shouldn't take too long. It'll be the same with Ven and Kikyo. You know what that means, lots of rereading. XD Of course, I might be able to wrap Minus's childhood up in three chapters if I make them long enough. We'll see. Well, that's all for now._

_-Autumnchronicles_


	18. Training and Music

_A/N: Okay, so I know the chapter's short, but I've been working on getting a Case Closed fanfic up and running so I only had time to slap down some words fast. If any of you are interested in the CC fanfic by the way, by all means read it. XD (here I am, advertising everything but this fanfic) Well, enjoy the words. It'll start getting interesting next chapter. Just two more for Minus, I think, and then you'll all hate me. XD_

**Chapter 18: Training and Music**

Months pass by and Minus is becoming stronger both physically and mentally through his training. Every day he battles new Pokemon. At first he is only matched up against Pokemon in single battles, but it eventually becomes too easy for him and he's soon taking on two, three, or sometimes even four Pokemon on at once.

As for his mental training, Minus is given various puzzles and formulas to solve in certain amounts of time, and he breaks the record times in almost all of them.

He learns dozens of attacks. Minus's mind is sharpened so that he can remember far more than the usual, and as a result he can preform all of them beyond normal standards. Minus even attempts moves Lucario can't normally learn, and actually pulls some of them off. Like one day, Edwin explained to Minus an attack he knew was impossible for Lucario to learn, and Minus preforms a stunning Aerial Ace.

The Lucario learns how to control the spikes on his body perfectly, and they become a major defensive tactic in battle. They're very reflective, and sometimes even fatal to the opposing Pokemon.

His stats are far beyond the usual for a Lucario, surpassing that of the maximum level. He's only at 56. The staff working on the Minus project are all nervous about leveling him up to 100, Even Professor Heimen, although he's only nervous that something will go wrong with his stats and stunt Minus's growth. Everyone else is starting to fear for their safety, even though Minus has shown no sign of aggression outside of battle. Even then he's completely calm.

Although Minus is becoming strong in so many ways, he doesn't like being told what to do. He always wants a choice. So every day when it's time for him to battle for exercise, he gets to choose the number of opponents and species. The Lucario is extremely trustworthy, so he's allowed to go everywhere on the estate grounds. Minus spends all of his free time in the garden, either talking to the dogs or exercising his flexibility.

Even though he gets an incredible amount of choice, and even though he should be blossoming with happiness, he's become almost completely emotionless. Even in the garden alone.

One day, Edwin enters the garden to tell Minus something and sees him crisscrossing through the trees gracefully. It reminds Edwin of something. Something Minus hasn't heard of yet.

"Minus, come here. I want to show you something."

Minus switches from grace to speed in one fluent motion and is at Edwin's side in an instant.

"What?" Minus asks blankly.

"Come on, I'll show you," Edwin chuckles. Although he's laughing on the outside, Edwin has been worrying about the Negative lately. He's been somewhat unemotional since Hikari left. Sure, he can visit Khaz and Lakota whenever he wants to, and they're great company, but they can't fill that empty void that needs to be filled by love. Minus needs to feel emotion again.

Edwin leads Minus into his own room. It's pretty much nothing compared to the Lucario's room, but Edwin likes how cosy it is. It's a change from what he's used to.

"Sit here," he pats his sloppy bed, "and close your eyes. Just listen."

Minus does exactly what he says. Usually he doesn't like taking orders, but he listens to everything Edwin says. Probably because he trusts the man.

There's nothing but the sound of the air conditioner working in the background for a second, and then the music begins. For a second, Minus isn't sure what the feeling of the sound is supposed to be telling him. It's like he's forgotten emotions completely. Then he understands, and he feels a pang in his heart. Sorrow. He misses Hikari. He misses feeling, too.

His ruby eyes flick open.

"What is it, Edwin? It's so sad." A tear is forming in the corner of the Lucario's eye.

"It's called music. It can sound like any emotion you can think of. You've just got to find the right song."

"It's so sad. It reminds me of Hikari."

Edwin sighs. "I'm sorry Minus. I really wish there was something I could–"

Suddenly, a brilliant, stupid, amazing idea hits Edwin Riles in the head. A lopsided smile works its way up his cheek.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll see her again someday."

Minus gives him a funny look and curls up in the corner of Edwin's room. He listens to the music until he falls asleep. Edwin gets another pay cut when Minus misses his daily training.

_A/N: Okay, so it was somewhat cliffhangerish, but it really ended on a funny note. It's going to seem even funnier later on when I finally revel who the heck Edwin really is. I gave a small hint in this chapter, so if you get really bored by all means look for it. XD Time to get back to work on that CC fic. Later._

_-Autumnchronicles_


	19. The Last Night

_A/N: Sorry it's late, sorry it's short, sorry I didn't have enough time to send the update notices to everybody, but here's chapter 19. I'll make up for it next week. Anyway, I was going to update PAC Friday afternoon, but then my internet provider picked then of all times to do updates and I couldn't get online. Then yesterday was the 4th, and we were gone all day. So here you are. It's another cliffhanger, sorry._

**Chapter 19: The Last Night**

It's overcast. Again. It usually is in the garden, just as it's usually noisy. Right now, it's fairly peaceful. The trees dance gently in the slight breeze. The garden Pokemon lounge around lazily. A few Pidgey twitter cheerfully, the Poliwag playfully splash around in the pond, and the Yanma hover wherever they please. At least, it's like this for a moment.

A fiery blast lights up the cobblestone battlefield, and a dark blur darts out of the way just in time. The blur looks ready to counterattack, but a perfectly aimed Thunder falls from the sky like a dagger and the figure darts out of the way to avoid it again. Two silhouettes can barely be seen from the other side of the haze the hazy smoke they conjured. Nothing happens for a moment, and the Lucario pauses. Suddenly they both attack at once and the Lucario is engulfed in fire and lightning. His attackers hold out their attacks as long as they can before finally having to stop. They stand there, panting and watching the eerie stillness laying before them.

The Absol takes a step forward to investigate, but the Arcanine blocks his partner's way with a paw.

"Wait," he whispers. A sudden light explodes from where the Lucario was and the billowing haze is cleared. Before the team can do anything, he sends a lighting-quick Water Pulse to the Arcanine and charges the Absol with Close Combat. The pair faints intently and Minus falls back. He's so powerful he can beat Lakota and Khaz at the same time. Minus never even felt their attacks.

"Edwin," Minus calls. The man steps onto the battlefield holding two bottles of something. He sprays their contents on both Khaz and Lakota, and the two are restored to their full health instantly.

"Good battle," Lakota says absentmindedly.

"Yeah, it feels good to be doing something besides lounging around again," Khaz remarks, stretching his long limbs. He stops for a second and looks up at the growing twilight. "It's almost night. We've been at it all day. I think it's time for a rest. What do you say, Lakota?"

The Absol shrugs and examines his paw. "Makes no difference."

Khaz nods and turns to Minus. "Is it okay if we call it a day? We've been battling you since dawn."

"Fine. I was just trying to see something anyway . . ." Minus replies. Truthfully, the Lucario just wanted to know how his defensive stats were doing. Early this morning he approached the pair, wanting them to battle him ruthlessly. Even at their best they can't match him up, Minus knows now. No one he's battled can. Except for Hikari.

"Edwin, I'm done here. Is there anything else I need to do?" he asks. The Negative tries to put on a smile, but his expression looks a little pained no matter what he does.

"Well, these two have some news for you Minus," Edwin admits. Shocked, Minus whirls to face his friends.

"What is it?" He demands. Lakota sighs and Khaz's ears droop a little.

"We're leaving soon," Khaz explains after a moments hesitation.

"Early tomorrow," Lakota adds.

"What? Why?" A scared look crosses his face for a second. After a short struggle with his emotions, Minus manages to contain his fear, but he can't help but look upset.

"Our trainer is coming to pick us up. She needs us again," Khaz says.

"I suppose . . ." Lakota trails off. He turns to face Khaz. Sighing, the Arcanine finishes for him.

"This is goodbye. We're going to miss you, Minus, but we have no choice."

Lakota opens his mouth to say something himself, but in the end all he does is nod.

"Good . . . goodbye," Minus whispers. And that is the end of it. Lakota and Khaz leave his side for the last time. Minus stands there, eyes closed, watching their auras leave to a secluded part of the garden where they'll wait for morning to come and steal them away from this place. Sadness fills his heart as he turns back to Edwin.

"Where to now?" he asks sadly.

Edwin checks his watch. Minus can see a slight smile working it's way up his face for a second. It disappears a moment later.

"Come on. Follow me."

The downhearted Lucario follows him blankly. Night is beginning to fall now, and the Kricketune and Kricketot are beginning to play their night melodies. Music fills the air, and soon the night world is dotted with light from the Volbeat. Edwin leads the Lucario through the garden silently, letting him gaze at the world around him in awe and wonder. They soon come to a huge, illuminated fountain. Volbeat and Illumise hover around its sparkling waters dreamily.

Minus is just about to ask why Edwin brought him here, when suddenly a Volbeat flutters through the shadows, revealing a familiar face. Hikari. It's Hikari.

"I won't tell if you don't," Edwin says to Minus. Before Minus can say anything, Edwin disappears back the way they came.

Minus runs to meet Hikari.

"I missed you a lot," he says.

"Same here."

The two Lucario hug each other and sit on the edge of the fountain together. They begin talking, asking how they've been, wondering what they've been doing, and trying to put into words just how glad they are to see each other. This is the happiest they've been in a long time.

__________________________________________________________________

Edwin returns to the main estate humming to himself. No one heeds him any notice when he enters, but he's meet with a surprise when he tries to enter his room.

"Edwin, I've been expecting you," Professor Heimen says cooly. This sudden approach doesn't frazzle Edwin Riles, however. He knows how to keep his cool, too.

"Oh, really. May I ask why?"

"Because we were just looking for the Experiment. You know where the Experiment is, right? You are supposed to keep up with him at all times."

"Well, last time I checked I'm supposed to keep up with his progress. He's doing splendid as usual, Professor."

"No, I want to know where he is. I'm sure if you tried hard enough you could remember where he is."

Edwin shrugs. "In his room sleeping, I guess. He was training all day, and it's getting late."

"Funny. We were just in his room, and no one was there. Empty."

Edwin pretends to look shocked.

"Really? Well, then I have no idea where he could be!"

Professor Heimen flashes Edwin a dangerous look and yanks a Pokeball from his belt. Before Edwin can do the same, the Professor's dangerous Luxray has him pinned to the wall. The Pokemon growls menacingly. Definitely not something Edwin needs to mess with.

"I'm going to ask you again. Where . . . is . . . Minus?"

Edwin has no choice.

_A/N: Thanks for reading and sorry for not being on top of things as usual. I hope you liked it even though it's late and cut off._

_-Autumnchronicles _


	20. Darkness Unleashed

_A/N: This was a hard chapter to write, and it took me hours to get everything perfect. This is the last chapter of Minus's childhood. I can't say much else . . ._

**Chapter 20: Darkness Unleashed**

Minus watches Hikari from the tree he perched in the night before. The pure furred Lucario is curled up by the fountain, asleep. It's barely dawn and he's already up, but he can't bring himself to wake her. She just looks too . . . beautiful. Pretty. Sweet. He can go on and on.

A twig snaps and Minus jerks his gaze away from Hikari and into the surrounding garden. He closes his eyes to see what is approaching and smiles. Minus's second sight falls upon the warm, familiar shape of Edwin Riles. His eyes flick open. Excitedly, the Negative swings down from the tree and lands expertly in front of his friend. Minus strikes a pose and grins.

"This a reward for all my hard training?" He jokes. Before Edwin can reply, Minus laughs, "Thanks, Edwin. It meant a lot to me. You have no idea how much I wanted to see her."

Edwin says nothing until he's sure that Minus is finished. The Lucario relaxes his muscles and lets his form slacken. He cocks his head, and Edwin lets out a pained sigh.

"Come on. It's time to go." Minus's lighthearted mood dims as he catches Edwin's worried glance.

"What–"

"I said let's go, Minus," Edwin interrupts. Something is wrong. Edwin never interrupts Minus.

Puzzled and slightly reluctant, Minus follows. He gives a backward glance to Hikari. She's still asleep by the fountain. For a moment, Minus has the impulse to stay and protect her, but he quickly dismisses the feeling. She'll be safe here. Hikari isn't wild, she has a trainer.

The Pokemon follows the human through the labyrinth created by the garden and out to the front of the grounds. Several vehicles are parked askew in the extravagant driveway. The windows of the cars are too dark to see through, and they're all painted the same color– black. Even the people outside the cars are dressed in dark clothes. Minus doesn't like the looks of this inky group.

"Edwin, what's all this?" He ventures nervously. Edwin looks as if he wants to answer, but before he can Heimen materializes from the wooded part of the garden with his two Pokemon, his Luxray and Rapidash. Professor Heimen's Luxray darts to Edwin's side and curls his flexible tail around his neck, making it possible to force him to the ground. The yellow tip prods his throat threateningly, yet the electric lion doesn't attack. Edwin is a hostage. Minus mentally slaps himself for not properly checking his surroundings.

"What is this?" Minus repeats in a stronger, angrier voice.

"It's time to show you your place, Minus," Professor Heimen answers cooly. Something flashes in the Lucario's eyes as he goes to take down the Luxray. Before he can land even one punch, however, the Professor's Rapidash cuts him off and shoves him out of the way. Minus can easily take the horse down, despite the type disadvantage, but Edwin stops him.

"Don't, Minus!" he cries.

"Yes, listen to him Minus. Daz's level is at the max. His reflex time is, too. Not a very good idea. Stand your ground, Fieara," he commands his Rapidash. The fiery horse snorts and paws at the ground. Minus notes that both of his Pokemon stay silent. Neither boast or taunt him at all, unlike many of the hundreds of others he's faced off against.

Minus's eyes snap back to Edwin, who's clutching the Luxray's tail desperately. The lion can either choke him or electrocute him. Edwin can at least try to prevent one. Minus stares in horror.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

"I told you, to show you your place. Ever since your birth he's been treating you like a human, which you are not, when he should've really been teaching you how to listen to us. His methods were undoubtably good, and you learned everything we wanted you to, except for that one little thing. It's been bothering me from day one, but I decided to let it go until you were ready."

"Ready for what?" Minus ventures.

"To live your purpose. To work for Globe-Tech as a special agent. Your training has reached minimum requirements. You don't need Edwin Riles any longer. He's just babying you."

Minus glares at him, "Since you say I don't need him any more, you're going to kill him?"

"If necessary, yes. He's a nobody anyway. You'll eventually forget him."

"Oh, like he forgot Hikari," Edwin scoffs under his heavy breath. Edwin hears him.

"Bite, Daz!"

Daz sinks his fangs into Edwin's arm, making him cry out. After a few seconds, Heimen calls him off. His arm will be okay, but it hurts him too much to move it right now. Edwin squeezes it with his good hand to try and slow the bleeding. Daz can now strangle him, too.

"Stop it!" Minus roars. His ruby red eyes are filled with fear, but his voice stays strong. Heimen seems to remember just how powerful the Lucario can be, and he motions for two people to stand in front of him.

"Need our Pokemon, Heimen?" The twenty year old girl shielding him asks. Her bushy hair is pulled into two thick ponytails. It's a golden color that contrasts her dark attire. Minus notices her hand keeps going to a gun at her side whenever he shifts his weight. Minus tries to stand more still.

"Maybe," the Professor replies.

The black haired man covering his other side says nothing. Unlike the girl, his hair is as dark as his outfit. It's cut short in the back, but his bangs shadow his dark eyes. A cape is draped over his shoulders, giving him an even more mysterious appearance. He doesn't bother to keep his gun concealed. He points it at Minus, bored, and cocks it. Professor Heimen does nothing to stop him from handling the weapon so dangerously. Minus speculates that the Professor fears this man too much to order anything specific from him.

"How is this supposed to show me my place, anyway?"

"Still unsure? I think this will change your mind. Bring her," he commands. The scene suddenly bursts to life. A whole team of private Pokemon hunters crashes out of the wooded part of the garden with Hikari. Iron ropes are twisted around her body like a net, a taser pumps electricity into her whenever she tries to get loose, and three Blaziken guard her painstakingly. They're holding her captive.

"Minus!" Hikari cries. The hunter holding the taser shocks her again and she temporarily goes limp. They begin hauling her to a black armored van.

"Hikari! Let her go, she has a trainer!" Minus shouts. The girl guarding Heimen finally pulls out her gun and points it at him.

"Had. Had a trainer. What we payed the girl was worth much more than this Albino was worth. She needed it, too. I don't think Haku will be complaining."

Minus stares at him in horror.

"You mean you're stealing her?"

"We're not stealing if we're paying the girl half a million dollars for one measly Lucario. Think, Minus. Think, money is worth a lot in this world. She needed that money more than she needed her Lucario. We're doing her a service."

Minus's eyes flicker from scarlet to ebony. "Where are you going to take her?"

"Away from you, where she should've been all along," Heimen replies. He is oblivious to Minus's eyes, as well as the dark aura that is beginning to seep from his body. "Take her to lab thirteen in the city to be mirrored. We need to find out what Minus would've actually turned out as."

"No need," a dark voice growls.

Heimen looks up in surprise. "Who said that?"

"Let her go," the voice growls.

"Wh–"

"Now!" Minus roars. Edwin stares at the Lucario, shocked. His eyes are completely black, and his fur is radiating a shadowy aura. The plants surrounding Minus wither and shrink back when the aura touches them. He's in his full Negative state. And he's angry.

"Look what you've done," Edwin whispers. Edwin suddenly realizes all eyes are on Minus, and he takes up his chance to escape. He whips the Luxray's tail around and kicks it in the side. Daz goes flying and rams his head against a nearby pear tree. The dazed Pokemon releases a burst of electricity, but it completely misses its target.

Edwin scrambles away from Heimen and the rest and pulls out a cell phone.

"I need help down here, now!" He exclaims. "Minus is switching over!"

There's the sound of shattering glass in the distance when he hangs up. Edwin tries to back away from the scene and towards the dome, but Minus's shadowy aura prevents him from leaving. All Edwin can do is watch what happens.

Thunder rumbles in the distance and it starts to drizzle. This seems to break the spell and Heimen turns away from Minus.

"Quick, put the device on her and get her out of here!"

"You idiot, that'll only make him worse," Edwin shouts.

"Like you know anything, Riles," Heimen scoffs. One of the hunters snaps a metal device around her neck. A light on the side flashes green and they begin running to the van. Minus holds up a paw to stop them, but before he can stop them the Blaziken break away and fire three consecutive Fire Blasts at him that catch him head on. The hunters carelessly throw Hikari into the back of the van and slam the doors shut. They secure the dozens of locks on the back and get in. One stays behind to command the Blaziken while the van speeds off.

The rain picks up harder and the fire attacks are extinguished in the downpour. The hunter returns his Blaziken and starts to run off, when Minus suddenly throws a blast of energy at him. It sends him flying into an armored car, which topples over when he collides with it. The hunter doesn't get back up. It's impossible to tell if he's dead or unconscious.

Minus suddenly notices that Hikari is gone. He couldn't see anything through the fire when it hit, even though it didn't touch him. Minus's energy fit dies down a little when he realizes what happened, only to flare up stronger than before.

"HIKARI!" Minus cries through the rain. "Bring her back! NOW!"

Professor Heimen shakes his head and grins. "You've lost Minus. Except it. Daz, finish off Edwin."

Realizing the Luxray is back on its feet and on his trail, Edwin scrambles to Minus's side. He knows it's cowardly, but he really has no other choice if he wants to live. She's still not here yet, even though the dome isn't that far away. What's keeping her? Rain hasn't bothered her before.

Daz approaches Minus cautiously. It finally stops a short distance from the Lucario, too scared to go any further. This will hold it off for now, but Minus is loosing his sense. He might attack Edwin at any second. It's time to stall.

"You saying that I didn't know anything earlier, weren't you Kyle?"

The Professor turns red at the mention of his first name and yells back, "How do you know my name?"

"You obviously don't do background checks on your employees. I can't believe you didn't recognize me."

"Who are you?"

Rather than answering, Edwin pulls a case out of his pocket and takes out his reading spectacles. As he places them on his face, he lets his British accent thicken as he replies, "William Edwin Riles, head of the multibillion dollar company Alliance Inventions, original designer of the Negative Pokemon Project. Can't believe you didn't recognize me with my glasses off and my accent tweaked. Like I said, you obviously don't do background checks on your employees. Then again, how would you know? You are not the head of Globe-Tech."

Edwin doesn't look like a cowardly old man anymore. He looks like a very wise, important one who holds lots of power. The Professor shrinks back.

"Is that true?" The man guarding him demands. Heimen slowly nods.

"Great. Finally a promotion." He points his gun at Edwin and smiles devilishly. He's about to fire, when a huge Pokemon suddenly knocks him down. The bullet intended for Edwin Riles clips Khaz's ear, instead. The Arcanine growls and crunches his teeth into the man's handgun.

Khaz may be a kind Pokemon, but when his friends are threatened he can be a downright nightmare for the one with the gun.

"You leave our boss alone!" the dog growls. The man might not be able to understand Pokemon, but he can definitely get Khaz's drift.

"Okay! Okay! Get off of me!" he begs. Khaz shoves him aside roughly and dashes back to his trainer.

"Toroth, what took you so long?" Edwin asks in his accent. It's obvious he missed speaking normally.

"We met up with a few Globe-Tech scouters on the way, and things heated up a little. You aren't dead, are you boss?" A girl on Lakota's back replies laxly. She's in her late teens, and she acts completely at ease. Her damp hair is sticking to her tank top, but she seems perfectly fine with it. An array of mysterious gadgets lines the belt loops of her jeans.

"One second later and I would be," Edwin grumbles.

"You are fine," she repeats. Edwin shakes his head.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here," he says. Edwin gingerly places a hand on Minus's shoulder.

"Minus?"

The Negative leaps to life and sends a jab of energy Edwin's way. He goes flying backward a ways and slides to a stop by Toroth.

"Riles?" she exclaims. Toroth leaps off of Lakota's back, and the Absol darts in front of her.

"Hey, boss, you okay?" Toroth quickly looks over her employer.

Edwin groans. "Minus has become too dangerous to reason with. His inner darkness has been unleashed. We'll have to leave him."

Toroth looks at him sadly. "But doesn't that mean that all these months of under cover work . . . they're for nothing?"

"Maybe," Edwin manages, "But maybe not. Heimen certainly can't control him. Let's just focus on getting out of here– now!"

Toroth helps Edwin to his feet, and Khaz kneels to let the two get on his back.

"Lakota, cover us. We're going to run for it!" Toroth commands her Absol. Lakota springs into action, firing random attacks haphazardly around them as Khaz rushes them away from the scene.

For a moment, it looks as if Minus is going to attack them, but he seems to show a little recognition for his old friends, and he lets them go. The Arcanine and the Absol disappear in the misty hills, and that is it. Minus is alone with Heimen , his Pokemon, and Globe-Tech's agents.

"You give up Minus?" Heimen shouts over the pouring rain.

"You're really not in the position to be making demands," Minus growls darkly. He begins charging up his energy.

"Minus, don't be unreasonable," Heimen coaxes.

"Too late! You were unreasonable first! And now, you're going to pay for it! I don't belong to anyone, and no one can tell me what to do! I'm finished with you! I'm finished with all of this!" Minus roars and begins to release his energy.

Rain spirals out of control as small explosions begin bombarding the grounds. People rush out of the mansion to see what's going on, only to be meet up with the blasts.

"Minus, stop! We can work something out! Trust me!" Professor Heimen pleads desperately.

Minus replies one last, simple word, "No," and the entire mansion explodes. Daz and Fieara back away from the rampaging Lucario and Heimen returns them both. The Professor's shields watch in horror as Minus destroys everything. The Poliwag pond is uprooted, the fountain is blown to bits, the cobblestone battlefield is showered with explosions, the dome implodes and glass begins showering down everywhere. Pokemon scatter desperately as they try to evade his attacks, but not many make it. Debris and water flies everywhere, becoming its own hazard, and lightning begins striking as well.

For a fleeting second, it seems like Minus is finished. Then it passes. He lets one final charge of energy loose, and the whole place is devoured by a mushroom cloud. Now it's still.

Smoke and Steam rise from the remains of Minus's beautiful birthplace. Electronics spark and small fires dot the area. Big ones, too. Sirens sound in the distance. They're already too late, but it's just what happens when a fire is out in the middle of nowhere.

The rain continues falling, but at a slower, sadder pace. Like tears. Somewhere, a lone figure watches his work. Somewhere, a lone figure vows revenge. Somewhere, Minus realizes the world isn't as beautiful as it first seemed. Somewhere, a Lucario has grown up.

_A/N: Goodbye, child, hello warrior. Well, so now you know a little bit about who Edwin really is. And Minus has grown up. Next, I'm going to finish up Ven's childhood. And finally Kikyo's. Out of all three, I think Ven's will have the happiest ending. Of course, that's not saying much. They're all pretty sad. You'll also probably hate me for Kikyo's. Hers is probably one of the worst, but then again having your love stolen from you is pretty bad, too. Till next time then . . ._

_-Autumnchronicles_


	21. Light

_A/N: I know, I know. You just read the awesomest chapter in the world and now you have to go back to reading short and sketchy stuff. Sorry. This one has lots of dialogue in it, and it's getting closer to explaining who Ven really is. It's cliffhangerish, I suppose. Ah well. I just can't wait to wrap up Kikyo's story, actually . . . but I'll have to get through this, first. I'll try to make the chapters longer when I do update next. Here's Ven's first chapter in a while. If anything is unclear to you, you might wanna go back and reread his chapters. They are 2, 7, 9, and 10. Wow, just four chapters? Huh . . . I didn't know I'd written that little on him. Well, I guess that's going to change now. XD_

**Chapter 21: Light**

The clouds part slightly and allow a small shaft of sunlight to filter down on Ebonum's face. The Umbreon squeezes his closed eyes tighter, and he finally gives in to the call of morning. He blearily looks up and lets out a yawn. He stretches himself out and shakes his head to wake himself up properly.

Before Ebonum can take even one step, a tawny blur darts past him. He hesitates for a second. When he decides to go again, two more figures speed past him, and he finally has to throw up a barrier to keep from getting hit. Ebonum begins jogging around the yard like this as he dutifully carries out his morning exercise. A few paces away from where he beds down, the first blur rams into his shield, leaving a large crack in it. Ebonum stops and rolls his eyes.

"You need to be more careful," he growls. Ven picks himself up and shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, Dad. Quick Attack went out of control again."

Ebonum still isn't positive his son is even using Quick Attack, but he wants it to be. He learned it a few days ago with his siblings, but if one were to judge the volume and speed of his own version you would think it was Extreme Speed. Eevee can't even learn Extreme Speed. That's why Ebonum is forcing himself to see it as Quick Attack.

Of course, Neither Ebonum or Lavendeau have voiced their son's special abilities. For one, he might become cocky. Something bad for Eevee to become. The second reason is because he might push himself too hard. That might hurt the natural course his abilities are taking. Lastly, Ebonum and Lavendeau don't want them to become jealous. Them being . . .

The two figures from before crash into what's left of the Umbreon's barrier and shatter it completely. Veecy and Caremell lay panting near where their father is sprawled out on the lawn. Ebonum groans and rises creakily to his feet. Both he and Lavendeau are getting old.

"Sorry Daddy," Caremell pants. She rolls over and playfully cuffs her younger brother.

"Yeah," Veecy mumbles. She rises to her feet and begins strutting off. "I'm done for today. Top class Pokemon need their rest."

Ven rolls over onto his feet and shakes himself.

"C'mon. Race ya."

Caremell uses Quick Attack and Ven follows. He's going easy on her. Ven's a great brother.

"Ah, they're growing up so fast," Lavendeau says to her mate as she watches the two chase each other around the yard.

"They are," he growls back. The Eevee are on dry food now, and they're already half grown. Ven doesn't seem as sad anymore, now that he and Caremell have hit it off and become best friends, and Veecy is full of flair. Ebonum loves watching how his pups turn out. It's different every time.

Lavendeau glances his way, then pretends to be examining her paw. It's as if she's turning something over and over in her mind. A question perhaps. Ebonum knows her.

"What's on your mind?"

Lavendeau sighs. "Nothing really. I'm just worried about Ven."

"How could you be worried about him? I mean, look at him! He's turning out great!"

"I know, but . . . it's just that . . ."

Ebonum nudges her. "What?"

"Have you heard him when he's asleep?"

He shakes his jet black head. His ruby red eyes shine with anticipation.

"Well, he has nightmares. Almost every night. I'm actually surprised when he doesn't have them."

"Well? What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong? He's scared out of his wits every night, that's what's wrong, and in the mornings he doesn't even remember he had those dreams."

"Then there's no problem."

Lavendeau gives him a sharp look.

"There's plenty of problems with that. He won't tell me anything. He won't tell anyone anything."

"Well, then he's dealing with them himself."

Lavendeau shakes her head.

"There's a name."

"What?"

"Either a name or a word, though I'm positive it's a name."

"What is it?"

She hesitates before choking it out, "Hikari."

Ebonum looks startled.

"But . . . th-that's . . ." he stammers and glances at his son. So innocent. So young. How can this happen?

"I know. It sounds like you. Just what does it mean?"

Ebonum has refused to tell her up to this point in time, but now he has to.

"It means light. It's also . . ." he trails off as Ven and Caremell run up. "I'll tell you later."

Hikari is also a word that relates to the legend. It's the word that the chosen one is said to utter in his sleep. But Lavendeau doesn't need to know that.

_A/N: Oh yeah, I won't be here next Saturday, so expect any updates to be on Friday, if any. If there's nothing there by then, just know I'm not updating till the Saturday after this coming one. I know that's confusing, but hopefully you'll get it. XD_


	22. Adoption Part I

_A/N: First off, I'd like to apologize for not updating last week like I'd promised. Something came up at the last minute. Secondly, I'd like to apologize for not making this chapter as long as I'd hoped. Thirdly, I'd like you to read a few announcement thingies after the chapter about further updates and other PAC stuff. Alright, here the next installment in Ven's conclusion. A few months after the last chapter, here's straight to the point._

**Chapter 22: Adoption Part I**

Veecy does her best pose for the Coordinator examining the litter. Her fur glistens as she delicately shifts from paw to paw in the way she practiced. Veecy's ears twitch whenever the teenage girl moves. She tries to flick her tail when the girl looks at her. The Eevee is using all the tricks of the trade her mother taught her before this paramount moment. And it's paying off.

"This one's sure a cutie," the scene girl says cooly. She has an almost arrogant air about her, almost like the very Eevee she has her sights set on. Her intensely high layers bounce when she lifts Veecy off the ground. "What's her name?"

"That's Veecy," Mabel replies. "She's perfect for what you're striving for. That one's all about class."

"Really. Can I see some of her attacks?"

"Sure. I'll take you out to the yard."

"And . . . can I see the other two attack, also?"

"Of course." Mabel signals to Caremell and Ven, who were previously sitting quietly in the corner while Veecy showed off. The pair trots obediently after her.

"Veecy, go!" Mabel commands when they reach the yard. Ebonum and Lavendeau look up when the entourage arrives. They watch proudly as their daughter lightly jogs forward and charges up the special attack she was taught prior the adoption day.

A shady orb of dark energy expands in the space in front of her and is suddenly sent shooting through the air. The Shadow Ball slams into the near center of target board Mabel's parents set up on the tree that morning. A few remaining shards of the attack flutter to the ground and flicker out, adding a dark, magical effect to the show. The scene girl watches with wide eyes.

"Cool, and this one?" she points to Caremell. Ven's favorite sister steps over to a patchy part of the yard and does her opening pose. Mabel pulls out a stopwatch and holds it out for the girl to see.

"Go!" Mabel cries as she clicks the start button. Caremell dives forward and begins digging vigorously. Her paws are a blur as she disappears underground. Less than a second after Caremell begins, her snout pops out of the ground and she leaps out to shake the dirt from her ruffled fur. Caremell does a relaxed finishing pose and trots back over to Ven.

"Pretty impressive time . . ." the Coordinator muses to herself.

"Ven, your turn," Mabel coaxes. He steps forward. "Go!"

Ven darts towards a thick post in the ground as he charges up. A silvery light emits from his tail as he goes into his opening stance for the move. He swings around on his right front paw and slams right into his mark. The post is neatly sliced in two by his Iron Tail.

Ven doesn't bother posing. He's too tired from practicing that move all night last night. The Eevee was determined to learn the TM he was presented with the night before adoption day. He's overall content with the way it turned out for him, although he's still a little put out by the fact that Veecy picked the one he wanted. She, being the eldest and best of the litter, got first choice. Then Caremell and finally him. Caremell hadn't really been out for a TM with power, luckily. She simply wants something to showcase her speedy abilities. It doesn't matter to her how messy the move can get. Ven's favorite sister isn't one to have a fit over getting her fur dirty.

The scene Coordinator considers her options for a little bit before giving her answers.

"I think I've decided."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to come back in three days. I can't exactly get my Pokemon at the moment, you see, and I still need to give it some thought anyway. I really like Veecy, but the other two have a lot of promise, too."

"That's fine," Mabel replies.

"Thanks for letting me look!" The girl thanks her and leaves.

Ven sits down and stares at the ground, dismayed. Caremell trots over to her brother and licks his ear affectionately. A small smile flickers on his face before he lies down and lets out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" she asks. Caremell is almost completely full grown now. So are Ven and Veecy, but Caremell is the more muscular of the girls. She'll be strong.

"I'm just . . ." Ven sighs again and sits up. "I feel put down whenever our abilities are compared. I don't know . . . I just feel unskilled next to her."

"Why? Is it because . . . is it just because of the first time you lost to her?" Caremell cocks her head. Ven shoots a glare at her.

"No!" he growls. Caremell jumps at his harshened voice and he recoils when he realizes how mad he sounds. "No, I mean . . . I . . . I just don't know."

"Well, if that is it I just want you to know that you shouldn't let it judge how strong you are or how strong you will always be. Try and remember that, okay?" Caremell says helpfully.

"'Kay . . ." Ven mumbles in reply. He covers his bad eye with his paw and stares at the grass with melancholy. The words aren't sinking in now. But someday, maybe, they will.

_A/N: Oh, something I forgot to mention. The next few chapters are all about the adoption of the pups, so I just decided to name them all 'Adoption Part *.' I have no clue how long the parts are going to go on. Anyhow, here's what I really wanted to say._

_1: I won't have as much time to update in the following weeks, so the schedule won't be as punctual as I've been trying to keep it. The new update times are any time Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I probably won't be able to update once a week anymore, but I will try. I'll try and let as many people as possible know when I'm updating. Again, I'm sorry it's been going so slow lately._

_2: I might not be able to check my email every single day any more, but I will still try to check almost every single day. The furthest longest I'll be offline will be a week, at the most. Hopefully, at least. XD But I really don't think I'll be off longer than that unless I spontaneously go on a vacation or something. _

_3: And onto the better news, I made a Poll on my profile. I want to know who everyone's favorite characters are. This particular poll is only for the main trio Minus, Ven and Kikyo. It will be open until the end of the childhoods. After that I'll open one with all the characters. So far Ven is in the lead with **2** votes. XD If you don't like the current result, vote for the one you think is best. I hope everyone can find the time, because I'm really curious to know._

_Thanks, that's the end of my painfully long author's note._

_-Autumnchronicles_


	23. Adoption Part II

_A/N: Well, here we are. This chapter is going to start something extremely scary for Ven. What's so scary, you ask? You'll soon find out. The conclusion to Ven's story might be in sight, but then again, I'm not sure. It's going to have lots of info I need to pack into it, that's for sure. Enjoy the present, for now._

**Chapter 23: Adoption Part II**

The next day, a 17 year old boy is the one examining the Eevee. His skin is somewhat pale, and next to his black hair it looks even more like paper. The boy's eyes are as cold and sharp as glass abandoned in the snow. His face suggests he's a little disappointed by his options. Of course, it may just be the simple fact that he never smiles.

He patiently sits through each Eevee's performance, saying hardly a word each time they finish, until he is finally left to mull over his choice. Mabel nervously serves him some lemonade and sits down at the garden table with him as he thinks. She jumps whenever he talks and stutters a lot. The boy doesn't seem to notice her odd behavior. Or maybe he just doesn't care. Meanwhile, the young Eevee gather together, whispering as if he might hear if they speak too loud. They're a little excited, too, but not for the same reasons as Mabel.

"There's no doubt. He was admiring my Shadow Ball. He's so dark and mysterious . . . he'll naturally pick me, of course," Veecy says proudly. Caremell snorts.

"Just because he looks dark on the outside doesn't mean he's that way on the inside. You saw him. He acts completely emotionless. Quit fooling yourself, Veece."

"Quit fooling . . . myself?" Veecy laughs lightly. "Quit acting like you know everything, Miss Smart Aleck."

"If you weren't so full of yourself you'd notice these things, too, Veecy."

Now it's Veecy's turn to snort. "Full of myself? Look who's talking! You need to learn to stop acting like you're better than me!"

"If that's what it takes to keep from getting hurt, then no!"

"Hurt?" Veecy says innocently. "I haven't hurt anyone. You know th–"

"Maybe not physically," Caremell sighs.

The selfish Eevee's eyes light up with something comparable to amusement. The corners of her small mouth play at a smile as she flips her mane in the wind and lets a sparkling laugh escape from between her sharp fangs. "You mean Ven?" The twitter continues to shine through her thoughtless words. "That dumb little brother of ours is just too weak to take life by the horns and fight it. It's not my fault he fails at everything and takes it so hard. He just needs to get over it and accept that he'll never be anything. That he's _worthless._"

Caremell can only stare at her sister in horror for a moment. After shoving aside the shock, she finally manages to step protectively in front of her brother, who Veecy so cruelly treated as both deaf and blind. Ven merely grimaces.

"How can you talk about your own brother that way?" Caremell snarls. "And in front of him, too!"

"I can talk about him whenever and wherever I want. Because I'm strong, Caremell."

"No, you are NOT strong. You're a low, lying, spineless piece of trash who doesn't care if they walk all over the people they should love or not, and you need some real common sense knocked into you."

"Are you seriously challenging me? You were the first to lose to me, and nothing can change that."

"That is an absolute lie! The only reason you came in first was because I actually had the decency to stop to see if our brother was okay! Just because you used that chance to cheat doesn't make you the real winner!"

Caremell springs forward on this note, fangs bared wolfishly. Veecy is so surprised by the sudden charge she almost gets taken down by the first feint. Luckily for her, she manages to throw her sister off her back before her coat is dirtied and she begins charging up a Shadow Ball. Caremell is about to tackle her again, when she suddenly remembers something. The brave Eevee stands her ground as her sister fires the attack. Veecy can only laugh at her apparent stupidity. That is, until the attack barrels into her at full force without even damaging a hair of her pelt.

The quick thinking Eevee shakes her fur as if to prove this point, and dives underground while her sister is still frozen with pure disbelief. Milliseconds later, Veecy is flying across the yard after getting hit head-on by a powerful Dig. The treacherous Eevee slams into a tree and falls to the ground. For a moment, Caremell seems to be the winner, but Veecy still manages to shakily get to her paws. At least, three of them. One of her hind legs drags limply across the ground, making her wince often.

"I don't know what you did to avoid my attack, but you won't be so–" Veecy pauses her speech to whimper in pain, "l-lucky this time!"

The clueless Eevee charges up her attack again, even though she should've learned it wouldn't work a long time ago. Caremell shakes her head and casually walks up to her sister. Inches away from her, Veecy has to pause to ask something.

"Why the hell are you so cocky?"

"Because you still don't get it."

Angrily, Veecy fires the Shadow Ball at her. Instead of blasting Caremell across the yard as it should, it dissipates when it touches her. A small smirk shows on her face.

"You forgot that it doesn't affect us . . . twice." Caremell uses Quick Attack before Veecy can process this answer, quickly knocking the Eevee out.

For a few moments after this happens, time seems to fade out of Caremell's focus and she's left all alone to piece together what she just did. At last the gravity dawns on her and the Eevee whirls to face her awestruck brother. "See? She's not as smart as you think she is. You just have to stand up to her."

Ven stares at her blankly, and finally achieves a smile. It's small, and quite alien to his face, but it's there. Even his eyes seem to be less pained. This causes Caremell's face to blossom into a silly grin. She is finally able to do something for her brother.

Caremell opens her mouth to say something more, but her words are cut short when a hand suddenly touches her back. She jumps a few inches and turns to see the one petting her is. Caremell's jaw almost drops. It's the 17 year old who is supposed to be adopting one of the Eevee today. And he's picking her.

"You're name's Caremell, right?" he says softly. His voice is deep and smooth, like a something you'd hear on a radio. His eyes don't seem to be as cold this close up, and although his skin looks like something a vampire would sport, his touch is actually quite warm. Caremell was right all along. He is different on the inside. She slowly nods. The boy smiles and takes her in his arms.

"This one's brave enough to stand up for what she thinks. I like a Pokemon like that. Besides, I've never seen anything dig that fast. Does she drink coffee, or something?" He says to Mabel. Mabel laughs and pulls out a pen. It takes her a couple of tries to get the lid off, she's shaking so hard.

"Okay, g-great," she stutters nervously. She turns a little red as she does so. "U-um, just sign . . . here."

She holds out a quivering paper for him and he cooly accepts. The boy signs with a flourish and hands the paper back to her with a soft smile. Mabel accepts the paper like it's an autograph and hugs it close as he says his goodbyes. He gives her a hefty down payment, collects Caremell's Pokeball, collects Caremell, and leaves. Just like that. Of course, Caremell gets to say goodbye first, but it's really only emotional for Ven. She has been the only one who made life bearable for him these past months. Now, he's all alone. Ven's happy for her, of course, beating his sister and being the first to be adopted and all that, but now he has no one to encourage him to stand up to Veecy himself.

And this is what scares him the most.

_A/N: Next chapter: Ven's dad might just do some explaining about his name if Ven's down in the dumps enough, potential Eevee owners will be scared off by the remaining siblings, and Veecy will proceed to make Ven's life a living hell. Just another normal day in PAC! XD Just a few side notes, the current leader in the PAC Poll is Kikyo, I might not be able to update next week, and I need some OC's sent in before next update that Veecy and Ven can scare off. Just a description of their personalities, ages, clothes, faces, what they plan to do, ext., but NO POKEMON. It'll make the update a little faster, and easier for me, because I won't have to think up a ton of new characters. _

_Oh, and speaking of OC's, if you've sent some in, I just want to remind you they will be used eventually and that you need to be patient and wait for the childhoods to end. That's all for now._

_-Autumnchronicles_


	24. Adoption Part III

_A/N: *Cries* It feel so good to be back!!! Waaaahh!! Ahem . . . now that I've gotten THAT over with . . . I'm back! XD I'm so excited about writing this again. It's been over six months since I've had time for this. 8 Marching band + Novel + Painting + Homework + Boys = No time for PAC. But some of that stuff's over now! I'm going to resume once a week updates and I also might begin posting another FF as well. (Teen Titans, if anyone's interested. XD) So, in this chapter I did use the OC's I asked for right before I stopped updating. Just like I said. Sorry if I did a bad job of illustrating them, but I had to tweak a few things to make the plot-line work. It's amazing- I can still remember the plot-line! It's going exactly where I wanted it to, even after all this neglect! Well, hopefully enjoy._

**Chapter 24: Adoption Part III**

A thin drizzle soaks Ven's pelt as he pads out into the yard. He feels himself shiver, but it isn't from the cold. It's Veecy.

It's the third day of adoption, and Ven's scared to death. The poor Eevee still can't believe that his sister, the one who made all life bearable, is gone. Absent. Missing. Ceasing to exist in his own window of existence. He's at loss of what to do.

Veecy, the essence of Ven's dread, promptly joins him. The leg that Caremell managed to break before her prompt departure is now in a thick, awkward cast. Luckily for Veecy her attack doesn't acquire the use of this leg. Ven is a little disappointed that his sister didn't manage to break something more important, like her pretty little snout.

"You're dead, dear brother," she snarls. Terrified, Ven tries not to acknowledge her presence. Instead, he focuses on Mabel and the pieces of work shopping for them today.

"What were your names again?" Mabel asks, disturbed by one particular customer's tendency to hover over her like a Beedrill. Mabel is having a hard time not showing her repulse for the fifteen year old.

"Malcom. Try not to forget it again," the boy answers rudely. He is a ridiculously rich snob who spontaneously decided to take a liking to Pokemon. Malcom's expensively styled hair is blue, his clothes probably cost a few thousand dollars, and for some reason he sports a huge pair of gold rimmed glasses he doesn't even need. He has a terrible habit of lifting them off his face every few seconds so he can see. Mabel wouldn't mind him so much if he was taller and more muscular, (what girl her age wouldn't mind that?) but the fact is he's short and chubby. Not even his camo green eyes and their gold picture frames can make up for that.

"S-sure . . ." Mabel mumbles. She turns to another girl, about fourteen. "And yours was . . ."

"Lati. I hope this deal works out," she replies with a slight smile. Her long black hair is slightly curled in places and dead straight in others. It's been forcefully layered twice and is quite feathery, now. A few red highlights streak through the black. Her eyes are pure black like the majority of her hair, but they radiate a kind aura. She's wearing a plain gray sweater and a pair of baggy blue jeans.

"Yeah," Mabel says in a more relaxed tone. She jots the name down on her clipboard. "And you?"

"I'm Ruby. This is so exciting! I've always wanted an Eevee." The last girl giggles. She's similar in age to the other two clients. Her bright red hair barely comes past her shoulders and her unusual pink eyes add to her smile. Her white hoodie has a small picture of a Flareon's face in the bottom corner. As Mabel scribbles some things down, she can't help but wonder what this girl is thinking with those red shorts and white flats. It must be forty degrees out here, not considering the wind chill.

Malcom swaggers across the damp pavement and takes a seat under a beach umbrella Mabel's father set up over the table this morning. "Come on, lets get on with it already," he whines. "I'm very busy. Just show me what the Vulpix can do."

"Eevee," Ruby corrects as she takes a seat next to him.

"Like it makes a difference."

"It does too make a difference! Eevee have seven different evolutionary forms and Vulpix only have one!" Lati suddenly exclaims. Mabel inwardly groans as she trudges over to the table after the three.

"Which one do you want to see first?"

"It doesn't matter," Ruby says.

"Just pick a stupid Vulpix," Malcom sighs.

"Um . . . they're Eevee. Veecy, you're up!"

The Eevee smirks and waddles up to her starting spot. Veecy performs her attack with as much grace as her cast will allow, and then she proudly swaggers back to her place on the porch. She shoots her brother a triumphant look before turning around to smile sweetly at the girls in turn. Her eyes quickly skip over Malcom at the sight of his glasses. As Veecy's padding over to her cushion, her bad paw slips out from under her and she does a very ungraceful face-plant. The Eevee flushes and limps the rest of the way to her bed.

Malcom raises an eyebrow. "You're actually selling damaged merchandise at full price? Lame. I wanna see the other Vulpix."

"Eevee!" The girls correct him in unison.

"What's your problem, anyway?" Lati wonders aloud.

"Nothing. I just can't tell them apart. They're both fire fox Pokemon."

"No they're not!" Lati exclaims stubbornly.

"Come on, you don't have to fight! You both have good points," Ruby coaxes.

"No, he doesn't! Eevee are not fire Pokemon!"

"The one on that girl's shirt is!"

"B-but, this is a Flareon!"

"So now there's three fire fox Pokemon?"

"No! For the last time Eevee isn't a fire Pokemon!" Says Lati.

"What's wrong with my Flareon?" Ruby cries.

While the teenagers are having their go, Veecy lets out a huff. "I've never been so insulted in my life. 'Damaged merchandise' . . . humph! That idiot can't even tell me apart from a stuffy old Vulpix. Not that it matters terribly much, of course. True beauty comes from within. Everybody knows that." Lavendeau and Ebonum smile at the sound of their remaining daughter's words, but Ven can only grimace bitterly. The clients' added bickering isn't exactly lightening his mood.

Mabel finally manages to calm the three down by convincing Malcom that only some Eevee are fire types, Lati that not everyone can remember Pokemon specifics, and Ruby that the Flareon on her hoodie is in fact very nice looking.

"Alright . . ." Mabel lets out a small sigh. "Ven, it's your turn."

He hesitates. Ordinarily, Ven would jump at the chance to prove himself better than his sister, but this isn't the right time. It won't be a victory if he gets chosen right now, because there will be two more kids to pick Veecy. For this to be a victory, he needs to be chosen by the single person Veecy is absolutely crazy over. Someone she wants more than anything. And she must be rendered utterly alone. Suddenly, Ven finds himself needing her to be completely, utterly jealous of him with a hate that runs deep like fire in her veins and makes her hackles stand on end with a maniacal rage. It is not simply a wish to prove himself something more than a sniveling little pup that whimpers and hides behind Caremell whenever she struts past. No.

It's a need. A need far deeper than water, much brighter than sunlight, more sustaining than air. And because of this need he needs to bide both of their times here until all the variables are perfectly in place. Somehow . . .

"Ven, you can go," Mabel cues him a second time. She finds herself steadily inching away from the three teenagers. Their edge is making her nervous. Mabel isn't sure she'll be able to compromise them if something sets them off again. "Ven," she repeats.

Ven grasps an idea. A very unsettling idea, but an idea just the same. Mabel relaxes as he takes off. His tail glows silver as he sprints up to the practice post, but instead of slicing through the soft wood with ease he deliberately misses the target and goes spiraling through the soaking air. He lands on his feet and kicks up a cloud of mist. Ven's tail dims but doesn't go out. His one-eyed glare falls upon Veecy. The shocked Eevee takes a single step away.

"Hey, was he supposed to do that?" Lati tugs on Mabel's shirt sleeve nervously. The split-second events that follow tumble after each other too quickly for her to open her mouth.

Ven begins to charge, and Veecy is left with barely enough time to collect her wits and brace herself. She lets out a yelp when his tail collides with her back, and she takes a swipe at him with her good paw. The two Eevee morph into a rabid, snarling creature of fangs, claws, and mud. Their cries cut through the thickening rain like thunder. Sheets of water fly up around them and soak the bystanders.

"My Flareon!" Ruby wails. She sniffs a bit before looking back up. "Someone needs to stop them."

Malcom is positively furious. "Those damn Vulpix got mud on me! Do you know how much these pants cost?"

"They're Eevee! And your pants are the least of my problems, right now!" Lati yells. Attacks sail around the yard like fireworks. The lawn is turned to mulch by their claws. Bark and leaves turn to shrapnel. The clients are at each other's throats like Seviper and Zangoose. Mabel lets her clipboard clatter to the ground and covers her eyes. This is a complete disaster. Nothing this bad has ever happened the other times she sold the litters.

Ebonum and Lavendeau rush into the muddy yard to quell the battle, but without much luck. Ven has transformed from a scared little cowerer to a a wild beast with the intent to kill in mere seconds. Veecy is just barely able to fend him off. Blood is beginning to mix with the rainwater. Mabel's parents rush outside to meet with the chaos and soon the scene is blurred together from the rain. Lati stays just long enough to yell at Malcom one last time for calling the Eevee Vulpix, while he stays and insists that he's going to sue Mabel's parents for the destruction of his pants. Ruby stays to try and help separate Veecy and Ven, but in the end Ebonum is forced to give in and knock out his children himself. Ruby's hoodie is completely covered in mud by the time she departs. The police arrive after an anonymous tip-off, (most likely from Malcom) and Mabel's parents are fined for disturbing the peace. The police also inform them that they will send a Pokemon specialist in later to investigate the behaviors of the Eevee 'just in case.'

The day ends with a full fledged thunderstorm and hot baths for everyone. Mabel holes herself up in her room after her bath and refuses to eat supper. Veecy and Ven are heavily bandaged and separated for the night. Her parents attempt to sit down and enjoy a movie, but every time a Pokemon appears they recall the days events with a pang and they eventually just turn it off and go to bed. The house is soon quiet, save the pattering of rain, an occasional thunderbolt, and some softly playing music filtering through the cracks of Mabel's door.

Ven lies awake downstairs, his good eye searching the darkness for ghosts that aren't there. Insomnia weighs him down. A flash of lightning illuminates the room and reveals his father's form in the doorway, but Ven isn't startled by the sight of it. He's guarding Ven for the night. Lavendeau is doing the same for Veecy upstairs.

"How are you?" Ebonum asks quietly.

"A little scratched up. Not too bad," Ven answers. His voice hints towards the deep tones of maturity a little more every day.

"That's good." The Umbreon pads over to where his son is lying and curls up beside him. "So, uh, what was up with the sudden death match, anyway? You're not going rabid on me, are you?"

Ven smiles weakly. "No. I just couldn't control myself all of the sudden."

It's a pure lie, of course. He could control himself perfectly well when he attacked Veecy. Every moment of the battle had been a perfect synchronization of claw and muscle. It had been best few minutes of his life. But he can't let his father know. He can't let anyone know. As far as anyone else is concerned, poor, helpless little Ven just got tired of being in his sister's shadow. Ven's newfound lust must be kept a careful secret. His lust for blood and victory.

"Hm. Well, you know we've taught you better, son," Ebonum reminds him awkwardly.

"Sorry."

Ebonum lowers his head and tries to fall asleep. After a few minutes of shifting around nervously, he sighs and gives up. "Ven, do you know what your name means?"

The Eevee is taken aback by this question. It has nothing to do with his earlier outburst. And it looks like it's been bothering his father.

"No," he replies curiously.

"Well, it's . . . um . . ." Ebonum trails off uneasily. How to explain? "Well, you were named after the Prophecy of Ven." Very blunt. But there's no other way to put it.

"Oh. How does the prophecy go?"

"Um . . . well, it doesn't really make sense if you just say it. There's a story that comes before it. I suppose I'll tell you." Ebonum falls silent for a moment. As he searches the corners of his mind for the right words, the storm rages on and the atmosphere is suddenly filled with anticipation. Ven is about ready to nudge his father when the Umbreon's deep voice fills the room.

_A/N: Sorry, cliff-hanger. XD I was actually going to have him tell the whole story and the prophecy in this chapter, but it was taking too long to write so I just decided to save the prophecy for the next chapter. Anywho . . . I kept the polls up while I was busy. XD Kikyo's in the lead with 4 votes and everybody else has 3. For a while they were all tied and I was just kinda staring at it, but someone finally took a lead. XD The polls will remain up just as long as I said. The question of whether or not the end of the childhoods will conclude 'Stage One' arises once more, but I still have a short ways to go before this problem gets really pending._

_Credit goes to the following people for OCs_

_Malcom - Delta 5-1_

_Lati - SakuraFurade_

_Ruby - xPikachu-Princessx_

_I apologize if any of the people listed here changed their names in the past six months; these are just the names these people went by when they submitted these and thus they went into my OC database that way._

_Thank you everyone who is reading this right now and ready to keep up with this story once more! Till sometime next week, then!_

_~Autumnchronicles (YES! I CAN SIGN MAH NAME FANCY AGAIN!)_


	25. The Prophecy of Ven

_A/N: Sorry it's kinda late, I feel into a book and forgot I also had an English essay. You know how it is. XD Well, the story behind Ven's name turned out to be pretty long after all. Hopefully it makes sense. If the actual prophecy part doesn't, it's okay. It's supposed to be really confusing. If anyone CAN understand it, well . . . XD I don't really know, then. I'm not even sure the prophecy will make sense at the end of the story. But that's okay. I'll give you a basic summing up of it after you read. Here's the story in Eb's words:_

**Chapter 25: The Prophecy of Ven**

Long ago, when the land was free of humans and their manmade fires and weapons, there lived a pack of Eevee bloods. It was a quaint pack, with occasional fights and minor problems with finding food, but it was just the same with any other of that time. They were a pack of seven. The leader was an Umbreon, his mate was an Espeon, his brother was a Jolteon, his mate was a Vaporeon, Their first cousin was a Glaceon, their second cousin was a Leafeon, and their elder grandfather was a Flareon.

Now, Umbreon's mate was expecting her pups and winter was setting in as it usually does, suddenly and unforgivingly, but their preparations were well on their way. The den was ready and all the pack had to do was wait. Mere hours before Espeon birthed, a blizzard blew in and they were all forced to retreat into the inter sanctum of the den. But none of them were cold, for the elder, Flareon, kept the pack warm with his fire. The pups were born without problems, and the pack was ready to settle down for the night when a ghostly cry for help filled the den.

"Someone! Someone! Aid me in my troubles; I but a cold and lonely creature traveling tonight alone and I need a place to stay. Someone! Someone!"

Now the pack leader wasn't one to just let a poor soul freeze to death, so he sent out Glaceon and Flareon to search for the one calling for help, for he knew they would need light and that neither of them would be slowed by the cold. The den was then bathed in darkness and cold, but Umbreon was smart, and he knew that electricity could bring warmth so he told his brother to use his powers to warm them in place of their grandfather, the Flareon. A while later Flareon's fire shone in the distance as he led Glaceon back to the den. Glaceon was carrying something on his back, and when they reentered the den the others saw that it was a Pokemon. A Banette. She was unconscious from the cold.

"Quick," Umbreon cried, "Flareon, Jolteon, give her warmth, Vaporeon, give her water, Leafeon, give her food!"

The four Eevee bloods were quick to go about their tasks and soon the Banette was revived and in good health. Six of the seven pack members had helped save her, the only one unable to contribute being Espeon, who was still tired from birthing. Umbreon had commanded the help. Jolteon had kept the den bright. Flareon had found and warmed her. Glaceon had carried her back from the cold. Vaporeon had given her water. Leafeon had grown some herbs to feed her. Banette was very grateful to the pack.

"Thank you all for lending your powers to save me," she said, "for I surely would have faded away had you not heard my cries."

"Twas nothing," Umbreon answered modestly. "Who would not help a Pokemon in need?"

Banette merely chuckled. "The misunderstanding, of course."

Umbreon didn't answer her strange words. "Well, you are very welcome to stay with us until the weather is more than favorable for you to continue your journey."

"I will take you up on that offer. Thank you."

The pack members one by one went to sleep, but Banette sat quietly by the pups instead. At last Umbreon, too, took to his dreams, and only Banette remained awake. She nudged Umbreon's mate awake to speak with her.

"Dear, dear, wake up. I wish to talk," Banette coaxed.

"Hm? I'm sorry . . . I'm tired from birthing. What is it you need?" Espeon answered the ghost at last.

"I was just wondering, dear. Why were you the only one not to help me?"

The Espeon's eyes went wide, for the land was well known for its ghosts and their curses and blessings. "Forgive me, Banette! I was unable to leave my pups. Please do not hold it against me."

Banette laughed quietly at Espeon's reply. "Oh, oh dear, I do not hold it against you. I am merely in debt to your pack. I wish to repay you all by blessing your pups. Will you let me?"

Espeon stared in awe of the ghost's request of repayment. What else could she have answered? "Do as you wish."

Of the pups, there were two girls and a single boy. Banette blessed the girls first, simply placing her hands on them and wishing them deep beauty and fast speed. When she placed her hand over the last Eevee, however, something strange came over the Banette. Her form began to glow a different color, and light began to fall from her body. Espeon thought this was strange, but said nothing. She knew something special was to happen.

"Ven," the Banette whispered, "you are to call him Ven."

Before she could say anything more, Umbreon woke at that moment to see the glowing Banette over his only son. He didn't know that she was giving him her blessing, and immediately assumed she was cursing him. The Umbreon attacked the Banette viciously before anyone could stop him and she screeched and began glowing a dark, evil color. Banette waved her arm and the Umbreon struck the rock wall of the den.

"So this is how you really are," Banette hissed, "you Eevee bloods. You save me from the cold, invite me in, and I bless your children, only to have you turn around and try to kill me."

Umbreon's eyes grew wide in realization. "No, no, I didn't know you were blessing them! I thought you were cursing them in the night before you fled!"

"Really," Banette smiled coldly. "So a curse, hmm? Then I will do as you expect of me, a Banette. I revoke the blessings I placed upon your daughters and sentence them to death before the first light of dawn can be seen over the horizon."

Espeon gasped and looked at her mate, hurt overflowing from her eyes. Umbreon stood in shame of his mistake. He waited for the Banette to curse his son, too, but what she said next was unexpected.

"I would kill your son as well, but I feel so much good energy within him. It would be a shame to kill that. But I will not leave him without a curse, as well. He shall be both blessed and cursed. Hear the Prophecy of Ven and cower.

Hear my howl  
See my mark  
Touch my fur  
Smell my rage  
Taste my fear  
Know my signs

Strike my skull  
Drown my breath  
Singe my fur  
Twist my back  
Freeze my bones  
Eat my soul  
Drive me mad  
Know my signs

But I will live  
But I will die  
But I will laugh  
But I will cry  
Know me

The curse  
The blessing

Of me

Ven, of the prophecy

Half-blessed, of the pact."

Banette then turned to the pup's parents. "And now I now bless his mother for letting me bless him with the good power of my sights. I now curse his father for thinking me of cursing him with the evil power of my sights. Your sons shall have any power of your family he wishes, as it has always been. But he will have the power to wish more than once. And that one son of sons of sons shall always be Half-blessed until the day that one of my sons makes completes the blessing. Or the curse. Whichever my son of sons of sons chooses. But only when my own son meets the one with the signs. Yes. Look for the signs, aid the dark one, beware the humans, and remember Hikari. Light. For it is the only thing that can seal his blessing and save him from his curse."

Banette finished her almost ranting words and her body stopped glowing and returned to its normal color. She called forth a spell and closed her mouth with a binding, so that none of them could ask any more of her. Then she left them.

In the morning the blizzard was over and the sky was clear, but there was no sign of Banette. The girl pups were dead as predicted. But the remaining pup lived on with a mark on his forehead. The mark would remain till his death. The pack tried renaming him something other than 'Ven' many times as he grew up, but he could not answer to anything else. Espeon was blessed with Banette's good powers as promised, and Umbreon was cursed with Banette's evil powers as promised. Every Espeon and Umbreon since then has their powers to some degree. It is also said that the Half-blessing has been passed down through his bloodline ever since, and that one day the signs visible in the first Ven's life would one day be visible again in the next's. No Banette has spoken to the Eevee bloods since, and man have always sought Eevee bloods ever since.

And now all that can be done is wait for the final nature of the Half-blessing to be chosen.

* * *

Ven sits in silence. His eye is narrowed and his brow furrowed at the tale. The storm has shifted to the back of his mind. The Eevee is barely aware it's still raging outside.

"So . . ." Ebonum says awkwardly after a while. "That's the prophecy behind your name."

Ven doesn't say anything.

"You don't have to believe it if you don't want to, of course. It's just a really old story, but it always makes me feel a little–"

"What's Hikari?" Ven's voice slices through the night like a fine blade.

"Hikari? It's a word for light. Banette used it in her words for some reason. No one is really sure of what she meant by any of them. All that anyone's ever been able to make of the prophecy is that the descendent is to have a mark on his forehead and he is going to carry a sign of some kind."

"And my name?"

"I just told you."

"I mean the word."

Hesitation. And then, "It translates to 'Half-blessed.' Just like the phrase in the prophecy and the story."

"So I'm cursed and blessed at the same time," Ven says blankly.

"I didn't say that."

"But why else would you and mother have named me this unless you both thought it was true?"

Ebonum holds his gaze with his son's before letting his head drop in truce. Neither say any more. The storm takes hold of the night once more.

_A/N: Okay, so basically the Banette got really pissed at the Umbreon for interrupting her blessing the way he did, so she killed the pups she blessed, blessed the first Ven only half the way and gave him a curse too, blessed the Espeon for letting the Banette bless her pups, cursed the Umbreon for interrupting, and left them with a bunch of weird predictions. Ven has been predicted to be the decedent (by his mark) to lift the curse (that still hasn't been made totally clear) by convincing Banette's decedent to have mercy on his family and finish the blessing. Ven's name means 'Half-blessed,' hence the curse AND the blessing. There are some other hints in there to where this story might go, but it's okay if they don't make since, too. I'll bring them up at the right time later. Sorry again that it's so confusing. XD Right now all you really need to know is the stuff I tried to explain a little more down here. _

_Poll statis- all tied_

_Update statis- next Sunday_

_-Autumnchronicles_


	26. Son of Banette

_A/N: Lol, sorry, it's not a Ven chapter. It's kinda an all-three chapter because it basically involves all of them. It's a meanwhile-fillery thing. I'm going back to finishing up Ven next week as usual. This is just something more about the prophecy and how it ties them all together. And I have announcements afterwards, so bear with meh! Enjoy._

**Chapter 26. Son of Banette**

"It's a boy," a voice reports meekly. Eerie cackles and calls echo through the bare trees. Their limbs claw at the cold stars in agony. Silvery snow lies on the ground undisturbed. Unmarked. Untouched. Dead leaves shift hauntingly Chills are common. As are the cries of the poor Pokemon who have been unfortunate enough to wander here. Night is thick in this part of the forest, and all the more filled with shadows, superstitions, and ghosts. This is none other than the home of the ghosts, The Eerie Forest.

A wide, evil grin is visible in the sparse moonlight "At last. Bring him to me."

"Of course," the meek voice responds quickly. A slight breeze shifts through the trees as the ghost hurries off.

The grin turns to a Pokemon on his right. "Now you were a messenger from whom?"

"That is none of your concern," the shadowy little Pokemon replies.

"You know, I've never seen a Pichu with quite your coloring before."

The Pichu steps into a moonbeam. His fur is darkly accented where the tones should be yellow, and his jet black eyes are cold. The patches of its body that should be black are deep gold. A small satchel is slung over his shoulder. "Of course you haven't. I am a first, but I am not a last."

The grin weakens a little. "Don't think because I haven't seen a Pichu like you before that I haven't heard about your kind. The tale's spreading like a wildfire– a dark Lucario with eyes like jet out for revenge. The Negatives. You're working for the humans, aren't you?"

The Pichu scoffs. "For now." A spark flies from its cheek in annoyance. It's charged with a black aura.

The meek runner returns. "Your son, Gren."

The Gengar slowly approaches the Banette the runner has returned with. A small, rag-doll like thing rests in her arms. It's a Shuppet. A male Shuppet. The son he's been waiting for.

"He's perfect," Gren whispers maliciously.

His new mate answers with an equal amount of cruelty in her voice. "You see, Gren? I said I would not fail you before. Not like Misten." Her mouth never moves when she speaks, and the Pichu doesn't appear to hear her side of the conversation. More annoyed sparks fly from his cheeks.

"And I should have listened, Gretel. At least that ugly little rag doll girl has faded, now. There's no way she could've survived in those mountains."

"If only disposing of Misten was that easy . . ." Gretel lowers her voice.

"Hmph. I wish I'd never considered using her. She seemed docile enough until the moment when that ugly thing hatched."

"Shh . . . enough talk, Gren," Gretel soothes him. "We must name the heir– our son."

"I have already decided to name him Resruc, for all the pain he will inflict upon the ones who misjudged our kind long ago." For in the stories passed down among ghosts, it has not only been the Eevee bloods who have misunderstood them. Every kind has taken them for evil, at one time or another. Now they are nothing more than ghosts of the powerful Pokemon they once were. And now they want to fix this.

"Perfect. Resruc, son of Banette. With the sealing of the curse, we will speak again." Gretel beams. The metal of the zipper clinks together hauntingly.

"Yes. And we will be powerful once more," Gren cackles. The two draw close, ready to kiss, when the Negative suddenly clears his throat.

"Sheesh, get a room."

Gren frowns and reluctantly pulls himself away. "Hold that thought, Gretel."

The Pichu scowls at him. The Negatives are a nasty new species; not one of them has turned out remotely friendly since the first, the Lucario, who has turned out dark anyway.

"What was it you wanted again?" Gren asks impatiently.

"I just need a conformation of the prophecy you're trying to fulfill." The Pichu is equally impatient.

"Odd. Last time I checked they knew nothing of our stories."

He smirks up at the Gengar. "They don't. That Lucario, the one who turned, he was supposed to be commander and translator, but when he flew the coop things changed. We had to get a temp till they could grow another one, and he's not to keen on the humans running things."

Gren smirks back. "In that case, what do you need conformation on?"

The Pichu produces a single sheet of paper from the satchel. "Here."

The ghost reads the paper with a gleam in his eye. His grin widens as the words tumble together in front of his eyes. "Yes. Yes, this is the correct version of the Prophecy I'm trying to fulfill. Whoever your temp is, they certainly aren't an Eevee blood."

"Ha," The Pichu laughs and takes back the paper, "anything but! He's a Meowth. No name. Not even a Negative. Hates Pikachu. Doesn't care what happens as long as he's left in charge of something. Also wanted to make sure we wouldn't get blasted by this curse thing if we helped ya' out."

"Then give the Meowth and your Negatives this message. As long as you do help, we will spare you when the time comes to begin the curse. You will also be rewarded and blessed when we have regained full power."

"Hmph. You don't strike me as the merciful type."

"Let's just say I can relate to outcasts born into darkness such as yourselves."

The Pichu smiles bitterly. "Hope your kid's the one."

"He is."

Of course, they are still unaware that the firstborn is not yet dead. And that she is being bred in the light.

_A/N: Just in case you forgot, Gren is Kikyo's father. Now you all know why he was so pissed when he didn't get a boy. XD Mentions of Ven's prophecy and Minus were present, as well as some foreshadowing as to how and why they're brought together. Now for the announcements:_

_1. I dunno the current poll results; forgot to check. Lets just pretend they're the same as before. XD_

_2. I have finally decided that PAC Stage 1 is going to be the childhoods and only the childhoods, and that the actually main plot will be Stage 2. In other words it's calling for a summary/ title change/update. So don't freak out! Just rewording a couple things on the sum and adding the words 'the childhoods' to the title._

_3. When I DO finish Stage 1, I'm going to go through and edit everything and modify author's notes and such. So be prepared later on for hundreds of unnecessary chapter updates if you are subscribed to me or the story!_

_4. Hang in there!_

_~Autumnchronicles_


	27. The Last Adoption

_A/N: As usual, my update pattern has become insanely skewed by the release of the latest Pokemon game. XD I'm sorry, but it's just so good! It took effort to pull away. And it also took an insane amount of will to continue. Lol . . . I hope you aren't too mad at me for it being so short, but I needed some time to think about what I have planned to have happen next. Ven's childhood is coming soon to a close. I know I've been rattling on about this for a while, but I'm serious! And an announcement about updates after the chapter. Enjoy this chapter, and eat your waffles!_

**Chapter 27: The Last Adoption**

"Your mother and I have spoken to the police more, Mabel, and they don't want us advertising the selling of these Eevee anymore. They could be dangerous. We're just aloud to wrap up any sales that were talked about before the fight."

"But only one person said they were coming back! And Ven and Veecy aren't even dangerous!"

"It didn't look that way yesterday. Besides, you can have whichever one doesn't sell. You need a partner soon, anyway."

"But you said I could have Ebonum and Lavendeau when they stopped having pups!"

"Well, yes, but your mother and I also thought that it might be best if you were to start smaller anyway. Training both Ebonum and Lavendeau might be overwhelming right now because you're still in school."

"But I can manage it!"

"We're not saying you can't, but we just want you to prove yourself a little first. We will let you have them both. Just not now."

"But Dad!"

"That's enough. Eat your waffles."

Ven listens to the pair's exchange of words with an empty expression. Mabel's mother, Lavendeau, and Veecy have gone to get the Eevee's cast checked. Ven damaged it a bit in the previous day's scuffle. Ah, small victories. Now if only he can discern a way for Veecy to end up without a trainer.

Right now, it's an either or situation. If Ven gets chosen by the scene girl who was striving to be a Coordinator before, Veecy will end up being Mabel's partner instead. If Veecy gets chosen by the scene girl, Ven will be Mabel's partner. It's a win-win situation as well as a loose-loose situation. Only one thing can be done to prevent this– Ven must frame his sister. The police are already wary of them. He just needs to make it seem like Veecy is the dangerous one. After that, everything will work to perfection. The plan just needs to be shaped and refined.

Ven is suddenly aware that his father is approaching. He blinks a few times and sighs. Time to get up. Languidly, he puts on a show of stretching out his limber body and yawning.

"Morning, Ven."

The Eevee manages to choke back another yawn just long enough to reply, "Morning." Ven lets loose another yawn. His jaws glisten in the golden lamplight.

"It's going to be raining for the rest of the week. There's some flash flood warnings going around," Ebonum states blankly.

"Hm," Ven rolls over. He's been feeling great ever since the fight. Almost all of his fears involving Veecy have been stifled. Sure, he's got this thing with his name going on, but odds are it's nothing. Just another sentimental bedtime story there to explain why things are the way they are. "Good thing the adoption's basically cancelled, huh?"

"I guess," Ebonum replies uncomfortably. A peal of thunder rattles the windows. Along with the rumble comes the overly melodious sound of the doorbell.

A chair squeaks across the kitchen floor in response, but Mabel's father quickly tells her off.

"I'll get it."

The girl sighs in response.

Ven's ears twitch and his curiosity peaks. Silently, he pads after Mabel's father. Ebonum follows. Conversation flows down the halls even before the Pokemon reach the front door.

"Hi, um, I'm here about the Eevee from before? I have money now."

"Oh, we were just discussing this. We've been expecting you."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, things have been hopping around here since yesterday. We sold Caramel, the Dig Eevee, and yesterday the remaining two had a fight. They were beat up pretty bad."

Ven darts into a shadow by the front door and Ebonum lurks in the hallway. It's the girl from before, the striving Coordinator. Ven feels his blood run cold. Not only is his plan not completely formed, but Veecy isn't even here for him to sap his satisfaction from. He falls still and listens.

"Oh no! Are they alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, they'll be okay. They both came out a little battered, and Veecy needs her cast reset."

"Cast?"

"Oh. Right. I forgot to mention . . . the one we sold attacked Veecy, too, and she ended up breaking a leg."

"Wow. This just isn't her week."

Mabel's dad laughs nervously. "I guess not."

"It's a good thing I'm picking her. Sounds like she's been living on dangerous grounds the past few days."

Ven's blood runs cold. This is not good.

"Oh, you've already decided? That's good. She's at the vet's right now, but you don't mind waiting an hour or so, do you? We have some extra waffles, if you're interested."

This is not good.

"Not at all! I love waffles!"

This is not good at all.

_A/N: I don't know why, but every time I read the 'eat your waffles' line it cracks me up. It's not even that funny. XD *laughs like a loon anyway* Oh, right, I was going to announce something about the update schedule. As of now, the update schedule is being abolished. I know, all of you are screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" for this horrible news. But I just don't follow one anymore. It has to do with the Teen Titans fic. I'm trying to work on both at once, so it's just getting chaotic. I'm going to try to start PMing everyone again whenever I update, (unless you have me on alert, because then I'm just plain annoying and unnecessary) and I'm going to do a rough alternation of writing the two. That's about all for that . . . so onto other news!_

_Thank you everyone who has voted so far! Minus is currently in the lead by 41% while Ven and Kikyo are tied for second with 29% each. I'm so excited to find out the last results!_

_And I'm updating the sum now, so don't freak. Like I said before, this is JUST GOING TO BE THE CHILDHOODS. _

_And you know what I just realized, this fic is ending soon! Omigosh! This is amazing! It'll be my first individual ongoing fic I've ever finished! Even though it's just the first in a series! XD _

_And this author's note has become tooooo long._

_-Autumnchronicles_


	28. Dreadfully Wrong

_A/N: Alrighty, we're back in business! (Inner voice #1: What business? Inner voice #2: It's a figure of speech, shut up!) Sorry for the delay, but I just want ya to know the update schedule is up and running again! Every Saturday before midnight I'll try and fix you guys up with another cliffhangerful chappie! :D I just coined a word, yay! Announcements at the end as usual. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 28: Dreadfully Wrong**

"Dad, do you want me to pour the rest of the batter on the waffle iron?"

"Yeah, there's enough for one more," her father replies after a spell.

"Got it," Mabel obliges and turns to their guest. "Abrigail, would you like more waffles?"

"That would be wonderful, thanks. You're a very sweet little girl, aren't you?" Croons the scene girl. Mabel frowns and creases her brow. Abrigail can't be more than fifteen or sixteen herself.

"Um . . . I'm not a little girl. I'm almost fourteen."

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say sweetie."

Ven watches silently from the hallway closet as Mabel forks over a plate of fresh waffles for Abrigail, the girl adopting Veecy. Ven has maybe half an hour to figure out how to make Veecy look completely unsuitable for adoption. Basically, he has to think of a way to frame her. He's been playing around with a scheme to make her appear too dangerous to be associated with humans for a while now, and if he can orchestrate the conditions just right it might work. Angered and under pressure, almost any Pokemon would appear to be dreadfully so. All Ven really needs for the ruse to be executed is the perfect stimulus. He mulls over this small detail for several minutes, but nothing he can think of would be enough to provoke Veecy the way he wants.

Mabel suddenly lets loose a piercing shriek from within the kitchen, and Ven perks up his ears and wrinkles his nose. He's never smelled anything quite like the waffle iron before, and it certainly doesn't improve when mixed with the aroma of burnt flesh.

"Honey? What is it?"

"OW! I just burnt myself on the waffle iron!"

"Well, what'd you do that for?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

"I know, I know. Lemme see . . . aw, it's actually not that bad. You should be more careful, though. These things could burn you pretty bad."

"Ow . . ."

A small, malicious smile creeps up the Eevee's face.

Ven lies innocently behind the long forgotten waffle iron, pretending to be sleeping in the corner of the counter as his sister is carried into the kitchen for Abrigail to see. His good eye is slitted open just enough for him to be able to tell whether or not anyone is within the proximity of the maw of the waffle iron. The iron was already in the prime area for his plan to be carried out when he approached it; near the wall that borders the semi-island that serves as the kitchen counter and beneath the single overhead lamp that lights the entire kitchen. After breakfast officially ended and the waffle iron had been unplugged, all Ven had to do was quietly slip onto the counter, move a few of the cooking bowls and pots around for cover, and manage to plug it back in to prepare for Veecy's arrival. Now the crafty Eevee only has to lie in wait with his tail within reach of the iron.

"Hello, Veecy!" Abrigail croons as she takes the heavily bandaged Eevee in her arms and cradles her. "Aw, you poor, sweet little thing!"

Veecy doesn't hesitate to take up her cue and act hurt and weak. Abrigail balances her weight in one arm and brushes back a few of her layers to have a better look at the Pokemon. The scene girl gently places Veecy on the counter and bats her eyelashes as she flashes Mabel an icy smile. Mabel frowns and scoots away from the intimidating teenager. Her unease for Abrigail is increasing by the minute.

"How old did you say she was again?" Abrigail inquires cooly.

"Well, the litter came a few months ago–" Mabel's father begins telling the whole litter's history.

Meanwhile, Ebonum and Lavendeau converse quietly on the floor.

"What do you mean you haven't seen Ven?" Lavendeau hisses.

"I mean he hasn't been around since you came home with Veecy and the Mistress! I've looked everywhere," Ebonum replies curtly.

"What about the humans? Do they know where he is?"

"I've looked into all of their minds, but they're too concerned about Veecy and the girl adopting her to spare a thought about him."

"You were supposed to be watching him!"

"Because he was reeking so much havoc."

"Ebonum, I'm being serious! When was the last time you saw him?"

"I . . . I don't know. Around the time that girl came, I guess. After that, he just disappeared."

Lavendeau sighs frustratedly. "I'll tell Mabel to look for him."

The Espeon concentrates on the girl and silently conveys the message. Moments later, the young teenager is confusedly glancing around the kitchen. Being careful not to disturb Abrigail's conversation with her parents, she silently begins to open cupboards and crawl spaces in search for the missing Eevee. Lavendeau and Ebonum follow her every movement anxiously.

". . . so it's alright if she has to recover a bit before we set out. I'll be sure to take absolutely perfect care of her," Abrigail says reassuringly to Mabel's parents as she strokes Veecy. The Eevee's ears perk up a bit as Abrigail says this, not because of her words, but because of the sharp, metallic aroma that's beginning to waft in her direction. She carefully rises to her paws and begins to edge toward the scent.

"That's wonderful, Abrigail," chirps Mabel's mother. "I'm sure you will."

Ven can barely contain himself as his sister's curiosity leads her closer to falling into his trap. His fur is beginning to stand on end in suspense, and his breathing is quickening. His lithe tail slowly begins charging for the ambush. Closer and closer, she stalks, unaware of the scalding temperature the iron has reached. As Veecy's eyes shine with wonder, Ven's slit quivers with knowing. So close, she is. Ven can almost hear her breathing. His muscles tense in anticipation. As Veecy is lifting her good paw to touch the mysterious object that smells so odd to her, Abrigail runs her arm down the Eevee's liquid body and turns her so that her sleek features can be seen again.

Ven almost growls in frustration, but he manages to catch himself before his cover is blown. Instead of giving into defeat, his eye locks on his sister's own tail, swishing back and forth through the air over the face of the iron. He readies his muscles once more for the kill, and snaps his tail down on the waffle iron. However, instead of slamming the white hot jaws of the appliance down on his sister's tail and sending her into a blind fit of pain as he hoped, something unexpected springs upon him at the very last second.

"Ven!" Mabel cries out in relief as she spots him behind the morning's dishes. Without warning, she scoops him up just as his attack is let loose for Veecy, and his tail is caught in the horrifying chain reaction he planned himself.

And this is the part where everything goes dreadfully wrong.

_A/N: Do you really want me back so bad? I mean, I'm just gonna keep firing these cliffhangers at you guys. XD _

_Announcements:_

_1. Ven's childhood will be concluded by chapter 30 and Kikyo's will hopefully be done by 35, so by the update schedule I'll be done with Stage 1 before summer's over. I'm still not sure whether or not I'm going to start writing Stage 2 right after this is done, or if I'm going to take a break in between._

_2. The popularity poll currently ranks Minus in the lead with 41%, and Kikyo and Ven in second with 29% each. (Technically 29.5% each because that only adds up to 99%, but the poll thingy apparently doesn't do decimals. XD) If you haven't already, hurry and get your votes in because the poll closes at the end of Stage 1._

_3. Thank you everyone who's been reading and supporting PAC. You guys are terrific, and I never would've gotten this far without you guys._

_~ Autumnchronicles_


	29. Fire

_A/N: Weeeeeeeell, I owe all of you an apology for updating almost an entire week late. And an additional one to tell you that the next chapter won't be until the next Saturday after tomorrow. XD SORRY! I ended up being unable to work on this last weekend because of some stuff I had to do, and then when I got un-busy I just couldn't get the inspiration to hit me. And then I had to go somewhere for a bit again, and I finally got my inspiration back just now. XD I know it's short, but it's because the next chapter is going to be REEEALLY long, if all plans go right. It seemed like I had something important to say . . . uh . . . maybe I'll remember at the end of the chapter for Announcements. XD Enjoy~_

**Chapter 29: Fire**

White hot pain courses though Ven's nerves, and he lets out a snarl of agony. The fox's good eye slams shut as he writhes. He slices reflexively at whatever he can and tears easily through flesh. Someone lets out a piercing cry. He's delirious with the satisfaction that someone else is hurting. The fox strikes out a second time, and this time he's cast away from his fiery fetter. More screams. Relief surges through him as the heat subsides, but it doesn't altogether leave him. He can hear people scrambling around the room. The slick surface he lands on whisks his claws out from beneath him. In the scramble to secure himself, Ven's paws snag on someone's jeans just as they jerk away, and he's lobbed across the room. Flailing, confused Ven sails into something soft and liquid that flails back at him. Bearing his fangs and slashing at the liquid form defensively, he tries to wriggle away to someplace safe, but he can't make any headway across the carpet. Finally, he gives up his escapist strategies and throws his entire being into fighting off the fierce creature attacking him. His eyes remain closed as he rips and slashes at the pure liquid opponent, yet his sensitive ears perceive each deadly movement coming his way.

Someone tries to pry Ven away from his battle, but a quick snap at their delicate fingers drives them away. A second liquid form rams into him in attempt to cripple him. He struggles with them a moment, then swings an Iron Tail into their side and follows up with a bone-shattering Quick Attack. His original foe Tackles him again, and Ven lets out a terrifying battle cry before he practically rips them apart. Fire pulses through his veins and pains him more greatly with every attack. His fur is burnt. No, his fur is singed. Singed. Singed like . . . like . . .

Ven freezes up and cracks an eye.

"'Singe my fur,'" The Eevee whispers eerily.

"What . . . did you say?" His foe croaks in reply. Ven's eye snaps open in horror at the voice. Ebonum, his father, lies in a smoldering heap before him. Deep crimson blood is streaked across his fur and his breathing has been reduced to shudders.

The humans cradle Lavendeau in the other room, who was terribly broken in her attempt to quail the death match. Mabel's arms and stomach are covered in a latticework of scratches, as well. Cinders and shreds flit about the room like an evil snow.

Ven's gaze slowly falls upon his paws, which have left charred prints in the cream carpet. For a moment, his eyes widen in realization. Then the horror of the situation overtakes him. Comprehension leaves him, as does spirit. His will to resist evaporates when a loop is thrown around his neck and tightened. Shock has completely filled his mind. The humans never protest once when he's taken from the comfort of their home and into the thick, steely cold of the rain. Ven shifts once more, this time from his state of shock to one of exhaustion as the needles of liquid cut through him. The cold burns him and makes him ache.

He's abruptly thrown out of the piercing rain in a single, rough motion. Ven finds himself locked inside a cramped box that faintly reminds him of the time he attempted to explore the freezer. He begins shivering. Slits are cut into a single wall of his newfound prison, and they allow just enough of the outside world to trickle through for him to see his birthplace slip away from him forever. Ven stares sadly as the rain blurred world flies away from him. A question faintly reverberates throughout his mind as he begins succumbing to his exhaustion. What _has_ he done?

At last, sleep draws him away from the waking world and swallows him up in an abyss of nothingness.

As Ven is taken by the pound to be euthanized for being deranged and dangerous, a faint glow emits from the mark on his forehead. For a moment, it seems to be nothing more than it appears. A useless light. Then, it suddenly begins to spread throughout his entire body. He stops shivering uncontrollably. Intertwining with fur and skin and bone, it fills Ven's entire being with a warmth that stays with him even after the light dissipates.

When the one who led Ven from the only home he ever knew comes to take him to the dwelling of his doom, he is very much surprised to discover that the Eevee in question . . . is no longer an Eevee.

_A/N: Ah, the joys of being a mean author. Well, haven't remembered what I needed to tell you so far. Hmm . . . gah, I'll just tell you stuff off the top of my head and hope I get it right. I'm too lazy to look at the polls right now, so just assume it's the same._

_1- Next chappie is Ven's last chapter. It's also gonna be really long. Oh, that might've been it. I was going to say that if it gets REALLY long the update time might be delayed a bit again. Oh, and I just remembered the other really important thing. It had to do with OCs._

_2- Uh, I've decided to stop accepting OCs at the end of Stage 1. I've already got more than enough of them, and thanks BUNCHES to everyone who sent me one or more, but I've decided that I'll still be officially accepting them until I click the 'Complete' button on this fic. For all of you who submitted, they will FINALLY be making appearances in Stage 2. XD Sorry it's taken so long. _

_3- I think Invader Zim abducted my brain, because I can't remember anything else I'm supposed to announce. XD Thanks for reading this far, I guess. Meh, that's about it._

_~Autumnchronicles_


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